Mostly fiction but some poetry too…
There’s a real 70s vibe to this pacy thriller with references to food, TV shows and all the grim misogyny and racism of the era. If you lived through the 70s as I did, it’s all very familiar: from Rimmel lipstick to The Sweeney and Crackerjack via public call boxes and tank tops. At 600 … More Gorgeous & Adorable
image from Waterstones website Powerful and persuasive about the damage the industrialisation of farming has had on the environment and people’s lives, this is a wonderful book. After a childhood immersed in the traditional farming ways of his grandfather’s farm in the Lake District, James Rebanks recounts how his father’s farm became the new norm … More English Pastoral – review
Image from Amazon website. A typically edgy, unsettled atmosphere pervades the latest novel by Deborah Levy, published in May this year. Set during the Covid pandemic, a young woman with a hugely successful career as a concert pianist, has an onstage breakdown and loses her nerve. As a former child prodigy, she’s been taken away … More Review – August Blue
Kaki Okumu is a Japanese-American nutritional therapy practitioner. She writes on Japanese food, fitness, lifestyle and health. Wa – the art of balance is a self-help book that aims to answer the question: How can we live healthfully? With a background of growing up across two cultures, she challenges the mindset that sees health as … More Review: WA – The art of balance
A new Anne Tyler is always something I look forward to. Such a consistently good author, even into her late seventies and eighties. She writes with clarity, humour and wisdom about early family relationships that form individual experiences. The image of the French braid illustrates how our lives are plaited together with our families. You … More French Braid
Free Love, published January 2022, covers ground that will be familiar to fans of Tessa Hadley’s consistently brilliant novels and short stories. Her skill lies in the subtle way she dissects her characters’ inner lives, exposing their fears and desires. I read an advance copy courtesy of Net Galley and wasn’t disappointed. After struggling with … More Free love
What I love about this novel is the voice – throughout the narrative Amanda Huggins captures the slow American drawl perfectly and the dialogue feels authentically American which shows a real skill. As in all her other poetry and fiction the language is spare but beautifully nuanced. Crossing the Lines began as a successful short … More Crossing the Lines by Amanda Huggins
“They spread out their jackets and lay down together on the warm bed of pine needles, bright stars shining between the tall spruce trees…” … More All Our Squandered Beauty
As an ex primary teacher myself, I imagine poetry lessons with Jonathan Humble must be highly entertaining and loved by pupils in the school in Cumbria where he teaches. I haven’t read his verse for children, but a playful sense of humour comes over in many of the poems in this new collection from Maytree … More Fledge
You burned fiercely during your too-short life, sometimes with an intensity uncomfortable for you and those around you. But your presence was always felt. None of us wants to lose a child. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. In 2016 Gill Mann’s much loved son, Sam died from schizophrenia at 22. In this beautifully written memoir … More A Song Inside – review
Ali Thurm 