Published in 2000, this novella feels like a powerful piece of psychological writing, a confession of sorts, as Ernaux takes us back to her student days in Rouen when she…
Happening (L’Événement) by Annie Ernaux
Strong Poison by D.L. Sayers
Iconic, sarcastic, totally over the top as only a 1930s aristocratic sleuth can be, this is the novel where Lord Peter Wimsey meets his match, Harriet Vane (though Harriet will…
Meridian by Alice Walker
Beautiful prose, tough subjects, challenging perspectives. This Civil Rights movement and Bildungsroman collide in the figure of determined and independent Meridian. Meridian is drawn to the Civil Rights movement; we…
Eight Ghosts by eight different authors (English Heritage compilation)
I love reading ghost stories and gothic books in the summer, so this purchase at a castle in Cornwall was the perfect sunny day read. Each story is inspired by…
You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat
Palestinian-Italian-American Zaina’s memoir about embracing her queer identity, going from US school years to summers in Palestine and Jordan with chaotic checkpoints and feelings of “otherness”, is a touching story…
Books about Women’s Health: Medical Memoirs & History
I’ve got a bit of a thing for books on women’s health: whether that is an empowering memoir of dealing with pain and frustrating diagnoses, or hard-hitting reports on the…
Murder at Mt. Fuji by Shizuko Natsuki
Another great read for Women in Translation Month! This book from 1982 hooked me and I finished it super quickly. I really enjoyed it. It’s a classic murder mystery thriller…
Acts of Infidelity by Lena Andersson (Review)
This was a book that I loved, but the main character is one that will try your patience! I actually didn’t realise it was the second book of a series…
Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix
When people die in a dinghy drowning in the Channel, half-way between France and the UK, scrutiny falls on the people taking the calls of distress that night. Specifically, a…
Mild Vertigo by Mieko Kanai
Formally experimental at times, this book is a beautiful stream of consciousness narrative of a Tokyo housewife. Her “ladies who lunch” group and their rivalries, her neighbours and their dramas,…
Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico
This book calls out our generation hard! Confronting in a good way, it peaks into the world of creatives who move from city to city, digital nomad style, and who…
Tilt by Emma Pattee
I love a debut novel that focuses on one intense day like this. Interspersed with some interesting flashbacks, we are basically in the head of Annie, who is heavily pregnant,…
The Book of Night Women by Marlon James
I feel a sense of inadequacy when it comes to reviewing this as it’s just such an intense, violent, visceral, but also hypnotic and compelling book. Lilith is a slave…
The Secret House of Death by Ruth Rendell
I loved reading this: I feel like well-paced thrillers are my summer jam. Imagine a boring London suburb with boring roadworks. Now, add some curtain twitching, infidelity, divorce, fear, and…
A Body Made of Glass: A History of Hypochondria by Caroline Crampton
Ever heard of the glass delusion – the established fear of being made of glass? Did you know that before glass was commonplace, people used to think they were made…
Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon
This is a recent debut novel from Irish writer, Ferdia Lennon, and it deservedly caused a stir! It’s a punchy, humorous, but also, gruesome and devastating telling of what happened…
Voices in the Evening by Natalia Ginzburg
Natalia Ginzburg (1916-1991): Anti-fascist writer Natalia Ginzburg is everywhere at the minute: it’s great to see her work getting recognition as more of her work is being translated. This slim…
The Hidden Room by Stella Duffy
This one was an easy read, a thriller set in the Fens where a couple running busy lives and three children must confront a dark secret from one of their…
She Speaks! What Shakespeare’s Women Might Have Said by Harriet Walter
Walter is an experienced actor and it’s interesting to hear her take on some of the Shakespeare parts that she’s played herself. Actor’s Shakespeare This is a practical and not…
Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
This is a beautiful book with a powerful message about Northern Irish culture. This novel paints a haunting picture of a fractured community through the eye’s of a brave young…
Abortion: A History by Mary Fissell
Depressing to read that the Ancient Greeks took a more logical and enlightened approach to abortion care than many places today! However, it’s an important message that is worth considering…
The Details by Ia Genberg
This book blew me away: the premise is so striking and original! During a fever, the narrator revisits memories of four people who have marked her deeply. Each section is…
The Party by Tessa Hadley
I hadn’t realised this novella was set in Bristol, so it was a real pleasure to recognise streets and places I know! Despite being set in the past, the energy…
In Evil Hour by Gabriel García Márquez
As I’m slowly making my way through One Hundred Years of Solitude, it’s fun to encounter another work where García Márquez references the village of Macondo and its several overlapping…
My Favourite by Sarah Jollien-Fardel
This was a deeply reflective read: a blend of lush nature and landscape, and searing emotional pain and community ills. A great translation from Holly James, this slim book packs…
Hijab Butch Blues: A Memoir by Lamya H.
This was a really powerful and engaging read: an anonymous memoir rooted in a very specific moment in time, marked by rising Islamophobia and increasing global mobility. The narrator, a…
The Peep Show: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place by Kate Summerscale
This was a true crime non-fiction read I found really compelling: it goes hard and tackles a horrific 1950s crime in the social context of a divided and down- on-its-luck…
The Voyage Home by Pat Barker
I’ve read Barker’s Trojan war series over the years and I’ve enjoyed its analysis of the Battle of Troy and the aftermath of the war from the women‘s perspective. This…
The Ruin of All Witches by Malcolm Gaskill
Rather than focusing on witch trials as a form of sensational true crime, this book is rooted in theology, community dynamics, and the psychological and religious tensions of early New…
Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates
This book and its author have been on my radar for a while. I was aware of Laura Bates’s work through her activism and the Everyday Sexism project. Since reading…
The Private Lives of Trees by Alejandro Zambra
Formally, this novella is quietly experimental. It’s about a man reading a story to his stepdaughter while he waits for her mother to come home, but that frame begins to…
In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
In the Time of the Butterflies is a really magical & warm novel: intelligent, moving, and powerful. Julia Alvarez brings to life the story of the Mirabal sisters (known as…
Poor by Katriona O’Sullivan
This is a powerful memoir, full of heart-stopping moments in a “wrong side of the tracks” childhood. It’s a topical book about what happens to children who grow up in…
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
This is the latest installment in Elizabeth Strout’s beloved Lucy Barton series and we get the convergence of two of Strout’s iconic characters: Lucy Barton and Olive Kitteridge. Strout’s signature…
Someone from the Past: A London Mystery by Margot Bennett
I looked into this book’s background and its Scottish author, Margot Bennett. This 1958 novel won the annual Crime Writers’ Association’s award (Golden Dagger). After winning, Bennet never returned to…
Black Water by Joyce Carol Oates
I picked this up at random from a secondhand bookshop, and I’m so glad I did. This is a fictionalised retelling of the real-life “Chappaquiddick incident” from 1969 involving Senator…
On the Greenwich Line by Shady Lewis
This is a brilliant, baroque, honest novel that doesn’t pull its punches. It offers a searing critique of the welfare state, exposing how bureaucratic systems can quietly and efficiently kill…
We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
As a fan of Osman’s work, I was curious to see what he’d come up with next with this new murder mystery series—and I have to say, We Solve Murders…
Local Fires by Joshua Jones
Local Fires by Jones is an entertaining, poignant, and memorable read. There’s something special about reading a collection from a local writer—one who references familiar places and explores overlooked issues….
The Happy Prince and Other Stories by Oscar Wilde
I am still going through my April reads backlog, but this was one that I wanted to share. I was reading this when I was feeling quite vulnerable in the…
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
I started reading this book because I knew that the Lucy Barton series would soon intersect with the character of Olive Kitteridge and I was curious to see what she…
Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo
I wasn’t immediately aware that this was actually my second book by Xiaolu Guo until I began reading it, but from the moment I started, I was captivated by its…
La Femme de Gilles by Madeleine Bourdhouxe
This Belgian modern classic from 1937 was referenced by famous French feminist, Simone de Beauvoir, and has been more recently rediscovered and made into a film. It’s a book about…
Great Contemporary Short Story Collections From Great Writers
Short stories are an underappreciated literary art form: we should all read more short stories! They often get neglected as they are not seen as marketable as novels, but these…
Bitter by Francesca Jakobi
You know a book has left its mark when you rush to find more books by the same author… only to feel that pang of disappointment when you discover it’s…
August is a Wicked Month by Edna O’Brien
I really wanted to love this book more than I did. I knew this book had been controversial/banned when it first came out in 1965 so I was expecting a…
The Nickel Boys by Colston Whitehead
A devastating read that’s even more terrifying when you realise it’s based on a real Floridian “reform school” – Dozier. What horrors and secrets lie in the archives and burial…
Best Hercule Poirot Books: Agatha Christie’s Belgian Icon
Hercule Poirot is a beloved detective, a true icon of classic crime whose fastidious nature and over-the-top character have won him fans around the world. Poirot is meticulous, brilliant, and…
Best Miss Marple Books: Agatha Christie’s Sly Sleuth
I have a soft spot for Miss Marple. Her unthreatening and endearing “dear old lady spinster” demeanour hides a steely determination: she subverts the notion of how old ladies should…
Gritty Childhood Memoirs: Survival & Hope In Equal Measure
Why are we so drawn to difficult childhoods in literature? Do difficult childhoods make for great writers? There is something cathartic and compelling about reading stories of childhood survival and…