reviews

  Say ‘Baghdad Central’ and people will immediately begin to talk about the highly acclaimed Channel 4 co-produced TV series, loosely based on Elliott Colla’s far better novel of the same name. Colla’s book is an intelligent, tightly plotted piece of writing, set in post-war Iraq and written from the viewpoint of the Iraqis. Colla, … Continue readings →

Tags : Baghad Central, Baghdad Central Channel 4, Baghdad Central novel, CPA, crime-fiction war, Elliott Colla, Elliott Colla Georgetown University, Georgetown University Arabic literature, noir, post-Iraqi war literature

    Lev Parikian’s Music To Eat Cake By is an utter delight. A dip in-dip out collection of essays, covering all manner of subjects – from music and bird watching to sandwiches and cricket – it’s a deeply satisfying, highly amusing read, a joy for those with curious minds. The premise of the book … Continue readings →

Tags : book perfect presents, Lev Pariakin, Lev Parikian essays, Lev Parikian non-fiction, Lev Parikian Unbound, Lev Perikian Penguin, Music to eat cake by, Unbound

    We’ve great fans of Karen Sullivan’s Orenda list, partly because of the inclusion of so many very fine books published in translation.We first came across the writing of acclaimed French-Canadian author Roxanne Bouchard in 2018, when Orenda published the lyrical We Were the Salt of the Sea in English. We adored it. It’s … Continue readings →

Tags : crime fiction in translation, David Warriner translator, DS Joaquin Morales, French-Canadian authors, Gaspe Peninsual, Orenda Books, Quebec's Gaspe Peninsula, Roxanne Bouchard, The Coral Bride, The Literary Lounge, The Literary Shed, We Were the Salt of the Sea

    The first form of love was the Goddess. Like love always is, we could not see her, but simply feel that she was there. We will call her the Devi, the self, the eternal. She is the mother to the universe and everything that comes next. … The Devi smiles at the three … Continue readings →

Tags : Ebury, Hindu, Hinduism, Indian literature in English, Kashmir, Nikita Gill author, Nitika Gill, novel in verse, Partition, The Girl and the Goddess, trimurti

    We’re huge Michael Connelly fans’ and came to him via The Concrete Blonde, oh so many years ago, in Murder One. It’s thus with complete delight we read his new book, The Law of Innocence, the latest outing for wildly popular protagonist Mickey Haller. From the first pages we’re thrown into the action, … Continue readings →

Tags : CWA, Harry Bosch, matthew mcconaughey Mickey Haller, Michael Connelly, Mickey Haller, Orion Crime, The Law of Innocence, The Lincoln Lawyer, The Lincoln Lawyer films

    One of my favourite things to do is travel. As a child, I read pretty much any and every travel book I could lay my hands on, had a bucket list of places I was desperate to visit and spent hours whiling away the time, nose in tome, imagining myself walking with the … Continue readings →

Tags : armchair travel, England travel guides, English travel writing, Kevin Sine, Matador, Matador Travel, Mersey Estuary, The Mersey Estuary A Travel Guide, travel writing, Troubador

  When I was asked if I wanted to review The Archers: Ambridge at War, penned by novelist Catherine Miller, it was a no-brainer. Like so many, growing up, Sunday mornings were given over to listening to The Archers’ omnibus on Radio 4. As soon as the iconic music came on, everyone would fall silent: … Continue readings →

Tags : Ambridge, BBC Sounds The Archers, Catherine Miller author, Catherine Miller novelist, Catherine Miller The Archers, Lower Loxley, Radio 4 The Archers, The Archers, The Archers Ambridge at War, The Archers at 70, The Literary Lounge, The Literary Shed editor's choice

  If there’s a time to read chilling literature (or catch up with Hammer/giallo classics on Netflix), it’s now. October is the month when the unnatural are really out and about, jumping up and down and waving their hands at us, shouting, ‘We’re here!’. So, it’s with pleasure we delved into CJ Cooke’s The Nesting, … Continue readings →

Tags : CJ Cooke, Gothic, Gothic literature, modern Gothic literature, Norway-set fiction, Rebecca, The Nesting, The Nesting novel

  We know and very much admire Anita Nair’s literary fiction and yet, despite being huge crime-fiction lovers, we hadn’t read any of her writing in the genre. Until now. And it’s astounding. Beautifully realised, authentic, truly great crime. Just pleasing in every way. A Cut-Like Wound introduces fallen hero Borei Gowda, a police inspector … Continue readings →

Tags : Anita Nair, Anita Nair Indian novelist, Bangalore novels, Bangalore-set novels, Bitter Lemon Press, Bitter Lemon Press backlist titles crime, Bitter Lemon Press crime fiction, Borei Gowda, Indian crime fiction, Inspector Gowda novels

  We have to admit one of the reasons we wanted to review Philip Bowne’s debut Cows Can’t Jump is the fact he’s a writer for the Wombles. Childhood nostalgia goes a long way. We’re delighted then that Bowne’s novel doesn’t disappoint. It’s sharply observed, well-paced, funny and yet has a poignancy that’s at times … Continue readings →

Tags : Cows Cant Jump, debut writer Philip Bowne, Neem Tree Press, new fiction, Philip Bowne, pre Brexit Britain fiction, Spotlight First Novel Prize

    It’s surprisingly hard to come up with a good book title, one that’s not only attention grabbing, but shouts, ‘Hey [waggly hands], this is what I am!’, and sometimes going old school is the key. The Creak on the Stairs does just that and it doesn’t disappoint. The nod-to- the-crime classics’ title is … Continue readings →

Tags : Eva Björg Ægisdóttir, icelandic crime writers, Icelandic noir, Icelandic procedural novels, Orenda Books, Orenda crime, The Creak in the Stairs

    It’s wonderful when writers, particularly women writers, get their moment in the sun again – and it’s especially so when the writer is someone as talented as Kamala Markandaya. In her day, she was a well-respected, best-selling author, her name known globally, and yet, despite this, for some twenty years, her novels were … Continue readings →

Tags : Hope Road Publishers, Indian novelists, Indian women writers, Kamala Markandaya, post-colonial writers, Small Axes, southern Indian writers, The Coffer Dams

  Happy national poetry day 2020. How wonderful that we have a day to celebrate a medium that we all love in one shape or form. I know many of you reading this will have penned a poem at some time, or written a lyric. The former is certainly how I first started writing – … Continue readings →

Tags : 1 October, Alice Walker, National Poetry Day, Virago

    ‘I am a woman. I am mixed-race. I grew up in East London and Essex. I am not posh, but I am not going to let anyone tell me that the Bar is not for “people like me”. This is my story.”   Many people will have seen the recent media about the … Continue readings →

Tags : Alexandra Wilson, Alexandra Wilson barrister, Endeavour, Hachette non-fiction, In Black and White, Octopus Books, racial discrimination legal system UK books, steph, Stephen Lawrence

    It’s a year ago since we reviewed the first of the Imperial War Museum Wartime Classics, a series of previously out-of-print fiction by the valiant men and women who wrote so poignantly about the Second World War from first-hand experience. It’s with great pleasure that we’ve just finished the latest book, Barbara Whitton’s … Continue readings →

Tags : Barbara Whitton, Eight Hours from England, faction, From the City to the Plough, Green Lands, Imperial War Museum Classics, Imperial War Museum publishing, IWM, IWM Classics, Land Girls, Second World War, Trial by Battle, war fiction, war literature, Women's Land Army