the literary lounge

  Lily Buckley’s lived through every bride’s ultimate nightmare, as Colleen Coleman’s For Once in My Life opens – being jilted at the alter by a man who not only tells her he doesn’t love her, but professes undying love for someone else. And yet she’s apparently lived to tell the tale. Or not. Three … Continue readings →

  When Patricia Feinberg Stoner and husband, Patrick, fell in love with a small brown-and-white spaniel, while holidaying at their home in France, little did they envisage the impact it would have on their lives. They spent the next few years living in Morbignan la Crèbe, a small village in Languedoc, encountering all kinds of … Continue readings →

  ‘For everyone, everywhere, who believes in freedom and equality for all’: the dedication to The Word for Freedom, a short story anthology celebrating one hundred years of women’s suffrage, speaks for itself. At the very heart of the collection, edited by Amanda Saint and Rose McGinty, is the fact that ‘we still need words … Continue readings →

Tags : abuse, domestic violence, Hestia, hope, inequality, injustice, Retreat West, second sex, slavery, suffrage, suffragettes, the word for freedom, UK says no more, voting matters, women's rights

  It’s November and it’s NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, the phenomenon that has people globally putting pen to paper to achieve 50,000 words in one month. Anyone, regardless of experience, age, gender or nationality, can join the virtual international community and support network that helps people find their voice through writing, and what’s better … Continue readings →

The second book in Lilja Sigurðardóttir’s excellent Reykjavík Noir Trilogy, Trap opens with Sonja living in the States with her son, Tómas. When ex-husband Adam grabs their son, he forces Sonja to choose between giving up Tómas completely or returning to Iceland and the life she left behind. Enmeshed once again in Iceland’s drug trade, … Continue readings →

Tags : Arctic noir, Icelandic noir, Icelandic writers, Lilja Sigurðardóttir, Nordic Noir, Orenda Books, Reyjakvik Noir Trilogy, The Literary Lounge Q&A, Trap, women crime fiction writers

  Today, we’re delighted to welcome Icelandic writer Lilja Sigurðardóttir to The Literary Lounge. Her novel, Trap, the second instalment in the Reykjavik Noir Trilogy, is published in the UK by Orenda this month.     LS: Lilja, thanks so much for joining us. You’re a playwright as well as a crime-fiction writer: which came … Continue readings →

Tags : Arctic noir, drugs Iceland, Icelandic noir, Lilja Sigurðardóttir, Orenda Books 2018, Reyjakvik Noir Trilogy, The Literary Lounge Q&A, Trap

  It’s November 1915 and Europe is a battle zone. Americans are flocking to the continent, even though the United States has not formerly entered the war. Christopher Marlowe ‘Kit’ Cobb, reporter and part-time spy, is among them, as Robert Olen Butler’s elegant new thriller opens, the Nieuports weaving their patterns in the skies up … Continue readings →

  It’s a huge pleasure to have finally read Louise Voss’s The Old You. Like many, I’d heard about the book, read reviews and even had a copy on my shelves, beckoning to me over the last months – yet I didn’t read it as I didn’t have the time. Then, as luck would have … Continue readings →

    Crime-fiction writers love seaside settings – the myriad ways to kill people perhaps – so, it’s surely not that surprising that Hastings should have its moment in the sun in the Dr Jocasta Hughes’ series. The Literary Shed catches up with writer Candy Denman at one of her protagonist’s favourite bars. ‘This is … Continue readings →

Tags : British crime fiction, Candy Denman, crime fiction, Hastings, interviews, Jo Hughes, Jocasta Hughes, NHS, procedural crime fiction, reading on location, seaside crime fiction, The Bill

  Today, we’re delighted to welcome writer TOM COX to The Literary Lounge. The author of nine non-fiction books – and friend to many felines, including the beautiful The Bear – Tom makes his fictional debut this month with the short story collection Help the Witch, published by Unbound. Tom, thanks so much for joining … Continue readings →

Tags : 21st Century Yokel, Help the Witch, Help the Witch Blog Tour, Ramblings Clare Balding, Random Things Tours, Short stories, short story collections, The Bear, Tom Cox, Tom Cox journalist, Unbound, Witch

  ‘Palm Beach Finland…’ he began and hadn’t managed to formulate the rest of the question before the woman replied. ‘The name is new, the place is old,’ said Koski and glanced behind her. ‘The new owner painted a few walls, put up a sign and renamed the place. He wants to give it an … Continue readings →

  ANTHONY BURGESS ONCE COMMENTED THAT ‘ALL NOVELS ARE EXPERIMENTAL’, and while that appears true of such work as A Clockwork Orange and Napoleon Symphony, I think he would be delighted with Adam Roberts’ The Black Prince, based on a 90-page screenplay that Burgess wrote, which was never filmed. Roberts, an academic, great Burgess fan … Continue readings →

Tags : 14th century England, Adam Roberts, Anthony Burgess, Dos Passos, Edward III, from screen to novel, historical fiction, medieval European historical fiction, pastiche, The Black Prince, Unbound, war

  ‘Personal background info. Loud noises make me flinch, and many, many much quieter ones … make me want to punch the wall … Strangers at the door make me nervous. Random conversation in the street makes me suspicious. … Thomas, aforementioned guardian, knows better than anyone how much I hate change in general and … Continue readings →

Tags : coming of age, Coming of Age fiction, contemporary fiction, cult fiction, long-listed fiction, Martine McDonagh, Narcissism for Beginners, reading on location, women writers

  For some reason, and please don’t ask me why, Queen’s ‘Another one bites the dust’ was going through my head as I read Overkill. On repeat. This was slightly off-putting, but strangely quite fitting given that the opening – probably one of the best, attention-grabbing first scenes of any book I’ve read recently – … Continue readings →

Tags : crime fiction, female detective fiction, New Zealand noir, Ngaio Marsh, Ngaio Marsh award, NZ fiction, NZ writers, Orenda, procedural fiction, Queens of detective fiction, Sam Shephard, The Literary Lounge Q&A, Vanda Symon

  Today, we’re delighted to welcome New Zealand writer extraordinaire VANDA SYMON to The Literary Lounge. Overkill, the first book featuring protagonist Sam Shephard, is published in the UK by Orenda. Vanda, thanks so much for spending time with us.     LS: I believe Overkill was the first novel you wrote and  published. How … Continue readings →

Tags : Mataura, Meet the author The Literary Lounge, New Zealand noir, Ngaio Marsh award, NZ crime fiction, Overkill, procedural crime fiction, Roderick Alleyn, Sam Shephard, Sam Shephard series, Taika Waititi, The Literary Lounge Q&A, Troy and Alleyn, Vanda Symon