A rare deviation from me here - I actually read and am actually reviewing an unsolicited review copy! I know, world gone mad. I usually leave these to mould on the shelf before they get passed on to a friend/family member/charity shop, but I actually decided to give this one a go. Not least because… Continue reading The Sense of an Elephant by Marco Missiroli (tr. Stephen Twilley)
Tag: Fiction
A Little Life is a little challenge
There is a LOT of buzz and hype around A Little Life, the second novel from American author Hanya Yanagihara, which would usually put me off - but this book genuinely appealed to me and I felt a genuine sense of excitement and possibility about it. I was lucky enough to read an early copy… Continue reading A Little Life is a little challenge
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The Ladies of the House by Molly McGrann
The Ladies of the House has had a lot of hype around it, and is a big new title for Picador (a publisher I've found to be reliably quite good). The cover alone intrigued me when I saw it shared over and over on Twitter, and I had to get in on the action and… Continue reading The Ladies of the House by Molly McGrann
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“Never trust your secrets to a Raven, when you are not its true master…”
After finishing The Silent Woman I was at a loss as to what to read next and so I did what I usually do in that situation, which is to choose a few books that appeal and read the beginnings of each of them, read the blurbs over and over, and choose which one to commit… Continue reading “Never trust your secrets to a Raven, when you are not its true master…”
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Julius by Daphne du Maurier
Having only read Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel, and some short stories, I was eager to branch out into the less obvious novels of Daphne du Maurier. For years I have found her and her work fascinating, and always tell other people they should read her - and yet Julius is only the third novel of… Continue reading Julius by Daphne du Maurier
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The Wild Girl by Kate Forsyth
These days I can't help but worry that people won't always appreciate literature as they should - that everyone will have a Kindle and no one will have any books - that children will only want to read if it's on a screen - that people will forget the classics and anything that isn't new… Continue reading The Wild Girl by Kate Forsyth
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The Ice Twins by S. K. Tremayne
Creepy children, and indeed twins, are not a new idea - they appear in countless films and books as a classic scary, horror motif, and aren't very original. And yet they are still creepy, and probably always will be. In The Ice Twins S. K. Tremayne (the "pseudonym of a journalist and bestselling writer", according… Continue reading The Ice Twins by S. K. Tremayne
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Fancy A Little Gothic With Your Christmas?
'Tis the season for all things Christmas, but I for one am still thinking about Halloween and all things Gothic... partly because I love Halloween, but also because I recently did two things that have made the Gothic stick in my mind: attending the Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination exhibition at The British Library,… Continue reading Fancy A Little Gothic With Your Christmas?
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“It is not uncommon, when one is young, to think that life is simple.”
So opens The Visionist by Rachel Urquhart. Life is simple when it is only one thing, when it is all that we know. It is only when our world is broken that life becomes complicated. The simplicity of Polly's life comes through fear of her father, Silas. He is her daily torment and she has… Continue reading “It is not uncommon, when one is young, to think that life is simple.”
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#thisbeautiful : Growing Up in the 1970s
There was buzz around this novel a long time before publication. I started seeing the #thisbeautiful hashtag on Twitter in I think May, a full five months before the publication date. Promotion seems to be starting earlier and earlier for books these days! As long as we keep it up and don't forget the books… Continue reading #thisbeautiful : Growing Up in the 1970s
These Little Words 