The full title of this book is Mad, Bad and Sad: A History of Women and the Mind Doctors from 1800 to the Present. Despite what this may imply, I do not think of it as a specifically feminist book. As far as I can tell it does not set out with a feminist agenda;… Continue reading Review: Mad, Bad and Sad by Lisa Appignanesi
Review: Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson (Man Booker Prize 2013 Longlist)
Almost English came to me by chance, and I was instantly taken with its cover (they are so, so important, aren't they?). It is not only striking but carefully designed, and modern too. 'Modern' - what I mean by that really is that it does not look like a lot of other book covers knocking… Continue reading Review: Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson (Man Booker Prize 2013 Longlist)
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The Man Booker Prize Longlist 2013 Is Announced!
Literary prizes are always fun: plenty of speculation and eager guesses, plus loads of reviews and recommendations to savour. There are also the bloggers who try to read whole longlists and shortlists, whom I really admire because I could never take on that amount of reading with a deadline! And the nominated books are always… Continue reading The Man Booker Prize Longlist 2013 Is Announced!
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Review: The State We’re In by Adele Parks
This is the first Adele Parks book that I have read; her work has always seemed a bit too 'chick lit' for me and I was never attracted. Headline very kindly sent me a review copy of The State We're In, and there's a lot of buzz around it, so I thought it was worth… Continue reading Review: The State We’re In by Adele Parks
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Kipling and Trix by Mary Hamer (2012)
The premise for this novel is simple - that the story of Rudyard Kipling's sister Trix is fascinating. Who even knew he had a sister, the blurb exclaims. Author Mary Hamer wrote a blog post for me about why she chose to write about Trix (read it here) and I loved the idea of exploring… Continue reading Kipling and Trix by Mary Hamer (2012)
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Congratulations Ros Barber!
I know I'm a bit late here but I just wanted to say a massive congratulations to Ros Barber and to her publishers Sceptre for her verse novel (is that the right phrase?) The Marlowe Papers winning the Desmond Elliott Prize for Debut Fiction 2013. There's a great website all about the book here, and… Continue reading Congratulations Ros Barber!
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When I Fell From The Sky: The True Story of One Woman’s Miraculous Survival by Juliane Koepcke
Juliane Koepcke was born in 1954, in Lima, Peru, to German parents. Her father was a biologist and her mother was an ornithologist; they had moved to Peru to study the wildlife, and young Juliane was brought up between the city of Lima and their home in the jungle, Panguana. Panguana is a remote spot… Continue reading When I Fell From The Sky: The True Story of One Woman’s Miraculous Survival by Juliane Koepcke
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Interview with Katerina Cosgrove: Part Two
Here is the second half of my interview with Katerina Cosgrove, author of Bone Ash Sky (see my review here). We talked about how conflicts and opposing beliefs can affect personal relationships, and how really we are all more similar than we are different. This interview was transcribed and edited from an audio recording so… Continue reading Interview with Katerina Cosgrove: Part Two
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Interview with Katerina Cosgrove: Part One
After reading her novel Bone Ash Sky, I was lucky enough to be invited to interview author Katerina Cosgrove at the offices of her publisher, Hardie Grant. Bone Ash Sky is Katerina's second novel and "is the story of an American journalist who goes home to unravel three generations of war and genocide, love and renewal,… Continue reading Interview with Katerina Cosgrove: Part One
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Bone Ash Sky by Katerina Cosgrove
Like most people I hear about the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East on the news, and see them in the paper, and people's comments all over the internet. But am I really engaged with it? To be honest I never have been, as I have no personal connection to the Middle East and have… Continue reading Bone Ash Sky by Katerina Cosgrove
These Little Words 