the literary lounge
Keith Carter’s The Umbrella Man is an insightful and often amusing view of the global economy and financial crisis of the late noughties and the repercussions that seemingly unrelated decisions can have on our lives. Central character Peter Mount is CEO of Rareterre, a small mining company based in London. When a group of … Continue readings
Tags : financial crisis, graphic illustrators, Keith Carter, literary fiction, Magritte, Neem Press, The Umbrella Men
Foxfire, Wolfskin and Other Stories of Shapeshifting Women is a beautifully produced book, showcasing Sharon Blackie’s rather terrific tales. Drawing on global female folklore and mythology – from the familiar Snow Queen, immortalised by Hans Christian Andersen, to Croatia’s ‘she wolf’, with its similarities to the Celtic selkies, Slavic Baba Yaga, the creator-goddess turned … Continue readings
We love Tom Cox. He’s rapidly become a favourite author, his writing poignant, funny, entertaining. Like many, we first encountered him via his musings on the much missed The Bear and his other fabulous felines. His subject matter is wide-ranging, from music to witches, toads to his shouty dad. His latest book, Ring the … Continue readings
Tags : leaping hares, Meet Tom Cox, Ralph, Ring the Hill, Robert Macfarlane, Shipley, The Bear, Tom Cox, Unbound, Underland
Icon n. – person or thing regarded as a representative symbol or as worthy of veneration.” ‘ICON’ IS PROBABLY ONE OF THE MOST OVER-USED WORDS in the English language. We apply it with little thought or reason. Yet there are a handful of truly iconic figures – the legend that is … Continue readings
Tags : A–Z of crushes, all about my mother, icon, icons, Judy Garland, music, Susie Boyt, Virago
Become a private investigator. One day taster course for anyone considering a career change but who doesn’t know what being a private investigator might entail. Why not find out if you have what it takes.” As Death by Indulgence opens, AB Morgan’s protagonist, Ella, is struggling, juggling jobs that seem to be going … Continue readings
Tags : AB Morgan, crime fiction, death by ihdulgence, Ella Fitzwilliam, fat chance, Second Chance Investigations, Second Chances Investigations Book 1
James Essinger’s Writing Fiction is a user-friendly guide to, well, doing what it says on the tin. In twenty-four concise chapters, the author shepherds his readers through the writing process, breaking it down into easy, bite-size chunks. Posing the initial question ‘what is fiction?’, Essinger moves on to comment on important areas of writing … Continue readings
Tags : Conrad Press, Frederick Forsyth, James Essinger, writing fiction
Stacey Halls’ much lauded debut The Familiars is a vividly told piece of historical fiction. It takes its name from the ‘helpful demonic companions’, usually small animals, said to help witches do their magic. Based on the real-life witch hunts of early seventeenth-century Pendle, The Familiars follows plucky protagonist seventeen-year-old Fleetwood Shuttleworth, the mistress … Continue readings
Today, we’re delighted to welcome author and publisher Amanda Saint to The Literary Lounge. Amanda is the founder of Retreat West, a creative writing organisation and independent publisher. Her dystopian climate change novel, Remember Tomorrow, was published earlier this year. First of all, welcome, Amanda. Thanks so much for joining us. LS: Amanda, … Continue readings
Tags : Amanda Saint, dystopian, feminism, independent publishers, Margaret Atwood, Remember Tomorrow, Retreat West, the word for freedom
On 23 June 1919, seven exceptional women gathered at 46 Dover Street in London’s Mayfair to do something that had never been done before – to create a professional organisation dedicated to campaigning for women’s rights. It was the official birth of the Women’s Engineering Society, the fruit of an idea conceived several months … Continue readings
Tags : feminism, feminist history, Magnificent Women and their Revolutionary Machines, suffrage, women's history
The first thing that struck me about Tot Taylor’s The Story of John Nightly is that it is BIG. Seriously big. 896 pages big. A good-looking edition, with a great typographical cover, it’s a true doorstop of a book in the vein of old classics like War and Peace, to which it’s been compared … Continue readings
Tags : editor's choice, music, The Story of John Nightly, Tot Taylor
We’ve already waxed lyrical about the IWM’s republishing of four Second World War literary classics this month. By doing so, it’s giving voice to men and women who wrote so beautifully and poignantly about a great, brutal war. David Piper’s extraordinary Trial By Battle is the second book we’re reviewing and it is quite … Continue readings
Tags : Alexander Baron, Anthony Quayle, David Piper, Eight Hours from England, Frank Kermode, From the City From the Plough, Imperial War Museum, India, IWM Classics, Trial by Fire, war poets, World War II
Gosh, hats off to the Imperial War Museum for great publishing with the wartime classics series. We’ve already reviewed two of the four novels being republished by the IWM this month. Now, with great pleasure, we’ve become acquainted with Anthony Quayle’s very fine and highly entertaining adventure Eight Hours to England. Based on Quayle’s … Continue readings
Tags : Alexander Baron, Alistair MacLean, Anthony Quayle, David Piper, editor's choice, film, Hitchcock, IWM, Second World War, war, wartime classics
There’s a lovely moment In the Absence of Miracles, when Michael J. Malone’s protagonist is catching up with a childhood friend whom he hasn’t seen in an age, and the residual awkwardness that one quite often feels in such circumstances just falls away. ‘There we sat, with legs kicking the side. The years fell … Continue readings
Tags : Crime Writers Association, In the Absence of Miracles, Karen Sullivan, Michael J. Malone, Orenda Books, psychological thriller, Scottish noir
Today, we’re delighted to welcome to the Literary Lounge acclaimed writer AUSMA ZEHANAT KHAN, creator of the award-winning Esa Khattak and Rachel Getty series. Ausma holds a doctorate in international human rights law and each book highlights a different global human rights issue. No Place of Refuge, the fourth book featuring this Toronto-based … Continue readings
Tags : Ausma Zehanat Khan, editor's choice, Getty, Khattak, No Exit Press, The Literary Lounge Q&A
We have a great fondness for cult 60s’ TV series, like The Persuaders, The Champions, and so on, partly because they were so slick – full of beautiful people, great locales, lovely styling, witty dialogue and wonderful music scores, usually by John Barry – and partly because we binge watched them on DVD, trying … Continue readings
Tags : 60s cult, Alexandra Bastedo, Code 17, Diana Rigg, film music, Francis Booth, John Barry