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…
Acts of Infidelity by Lena Andersson (Review)
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….
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…
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…
A Lost Lady by Willa Cather
This is my third Cather novel, and it stands out from the others in that it follows a more traditionally structured narrative. However, the praise of the American West/pioneering spirit…
Gravel Heart by Abdulrazak Gurnah
Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Gravel Heart is a beautifully written novel that reads like a memoir, yet at its core, it’s a poignant exploration of family secrets, displacement, and the immigrant experience….
Unquiet by Linn Ullmann (Review)
This book was such a joy to read—thoughtful, intelligent, and surprisingly funny. I hadn’t been aware of Linn Ullmann before, but after receiving messages from people praising her work, I…
Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
This is the third book of the Dune series! It very much focuses on the next generation of the Atreides dynasty and the challenges of dynastic rule. How to revive…
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
This debut novel set in small-town America is not always a 100% tone perfect read, but it is definitely worth checking out. It’s exuberant and joyful, yet also hits hard…
So Thrilled For You by Holly Bourne
This was a fun holiday read. Arson has erupted at a baby shower. It is a hot summer’s day and everyone and everything is melting, including the fancy cupcakes. What…
Married Love by Tessa Hadley
I love Tessa Hadley. Recently, I did a bit of research into what people were saying about her as a writer. It seems others have noticed that while prose is…
Pearls Before Swine by Margery Allingham
This was my first Marjorie Allingham and it was a fun Blitz era romp set in a London worn down by the war. Published in 1945, it would have been…
Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench
This was a really great read that I hoovered up. I actually listened to it in audio, which was a really great way to appreciate Shakespeare’s language! Judi herself reads…
The Invisible Man by H.G Wells
My final February read to review, this short novel by H.G Wells was an interesting look at that famous childhood wish: to be invisible. It’s published in 1897. The narrator’s…
Kudos by Rachel Cusk
I’ve read a lot of Rachel Cusk, and I was really surprised that I had never actually finished the Outline trilogy! It was fun to visit my “lockdown” author and…
After the Funeral by Tessa Hadley
I love the confessional and documentarian style of Hadley. It’s precise, intelligent, and never frivolous. Her style shines through in these short stories where she really gets to the heart…