My second novel, The River Brings The Sea was published in December 2025. My debut, One Scheme of Happiness was published in 2020 by Retreat West Books. In August that year it was longlisted for Not The Booker Prize. I also write poetry and short stories.
My plan in January 2018 was to read mainly books by women – to make up for all the years of reading the male cannon – with the exception of books by male writers 1. in translation, 2. of colour and 3. for research. (I also allowed myself to read two by Julian Barnes just … More A year of reading (mostly) women
An excellent and very enjoyable anthology of short stories, by both established and new writers, inspired by 100 years of women’s suffrage, The Word for Freedom is the brainchild of the author, Rose McGinty. Sales of the book will raise money for the work of Hestia, an organisation with a crucial role in running refuges … More The Word For Freedom: a review
Eggshells by Caitriona Lally is a darkly hilarious and moving novel about feeling that you don’t fit in. Vivian lives alone in her dead great-aunt’s house and spends every day (like a 21st century Leopold Bloom) walking the streets of Dublin. Other people and all their words and conversations make no sense to her and … More Eggshells: a review
Due to be published on 12th November this is a debut flash fiction collection from award-winning writer, F J Morris. It’s a bit like saying ‘Don’t think about an elephant’ so of course you can’t help it, only in this case it’s the ghostly presence of the great David Bowie floating through these stories. His … More This Is (Not About) David Bowie: a review
Amanda Saint founder of Retreat West Books writes: Ali Thurm signed for debut novel Thrilled to have signed the debut novel from Ali Thurm for Retreat West Books. One Scheme of Happiness is a story of desire, obsession and delusion and just how far you will go to get what you think you want. It … More Writing update: exciting news!
A small Californian town is under threat when a mysterious virus starts spreading from the local college; people fall asleep and can’t be woken. Karen Thompson Walker handles the material very efficiently, building up an atmosphere of disbelief that escalates gradually until the town is cut off from the outside world by a ‘cordon sanitaire’. … More The Dreamers: a review
Very different from her usual style of writing, A L Kennedy has written a feminist novella for adults based on St Exupery’s well-loved children’s picture book, The Little Prince. The Little Snake is a fable that gently reminds us that life is more than building great cities and fighting over resources; life can be lived … More The Little Snake: a review
When it comes to evoking the natural world and capturing the sense of a superstitious, rural community on the verge of disappearing after the First World War, Melissa Harrison is a very fine writer. For the first half of All Among The Barley it was like watching paint slowly drying, albeit a very beautiful paint … More All Among The Barley: a review
Sarah Moss is a novelist, travel writer and academic, teaching in the University of Warwick’s Writing Programme. She’s written five novels, The Tidal Zone (Granta, 2016), Signs for Lost Children (Granta, 2015), Bodies of Light (Granta, 2014), Night Waking (Granta, 2011) and Cold Earth (Granta, 2009). Ghost Wall, published September 2018, is a brilliantly … More Ghost Wall: a review
Yoko Tawada’s latest book is a novella set in a dystopian Japan where climate change and disease have forced the country to close its borders – no one is allowed in or out. Even foreign words are banned. Yoshiro is bringing up his great-grandson, Mumei in a world where the old still work and only … More The Last Children of Tokyo: a review
Ali Thurm 