Take a Bite; The Rhys Davies Short Story Award Anthology 2022

I've been in a real reading slump this month. I've started a million (very decent) books and I've only finished the marvellous Still Life. This collection of stories also made it through the mire, because it is a brilliant anthology of writing from authors from, or linked to, Wales. It's really exciting to find new …

Still Life – Sarah Winman

I've been in a real reading slump this spring (and my reviewing has hit an all-time low in terms of productivity). Thankfully, my sister-in-law sent me Winman's Still Life, and there's so much to love about this novel that I don't know where to start. It might just be easier if I list what I …

The Write Balance; How to Embrace Percolation, Revision & Going Public – Bonni Goldberg #blogblitz

Just for reassurance, Goldberg makes it clear early on that ‘this book is for anyone who writes.’ As a writer herself and as a teacher of writing, she is best placed to know that many authors suffer with a version of Imposter Syndrome, and this guide speaks to the sense of embarrassment some feel when stating …

Bewilderment – Richard Powers

I got the 'this-will-be-amazing' tingles as I started this novel, and so it was - I will forever remember finishing reading Bewilderment in a beautifully sunny Somerset park on our way home from Cornwall, emotionally stunned by the ending and completely unaware of my surroundings and those physically around me. To read a book where …

May Day – Josie Jaffrey #BBNYA2021

I took part as a Panelist in the 2021 BBNYA competition, and was lucky enough to read the novel which would go on to win. During the process, I read many excellent excerpts and full novels and so I know how high the standard was last year. I wasn't at all surprised when May Day …

The Power of the Dog – Thomas Savage

As with many rediscovered novels which find a new and enthusiastic readership, it's hard to see now why The Power of the Dog hasn't remained in print since its initial publication in 1967. It contains everything a classic American novel needs - taut family tensions heightened by physical isolation, a study of the type of …

Dear Mrs Bird – A. J. Pearce

This is probably one of the most blogged-about books of the past few years, so I finally caved in and treated myself to a copy. I think my reservations were built purely around the fact that everyone already had read it and there was that feeling that I'd missed the boat and there was little …

Strange Journey – Maud Cairnes

We've all had a moment where we wished we were someone else, where we've looked at someone's life and briefly envied their seemingly calm and comfortable existence. When Polly does this, watching an expensive car glide past her (admittedly very comfortable middle-class) house one evening, she has such a moment. Days later, she feels briefly …

An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed – Helene Tursten

'It was the words "boiler room" that had caught Maud's attention. She tuned out of the couple's conversation, but those two words continued to echo in her mind. The boiler room. The cellar. The coal cellar. The boys in the coal cellar.' 88-year-old Maud continues to be single-minded in her determination to live a quiet …

The Wall – John Lanchester

'No choice - everything about the wall means you have no choice.' As with most dystopias, Lanchester's The Wall is a grim reminder of what we're messing up now. In his version of the (presumably) near-future, Britain's coastline is now a huge concrete wall, a structure guarded night and day against attacked from The Others. …