Buried Under Books

Category: Fiction


REVIEW: ‘Death knocks twice’ in a family steeped in secrets

Ah, the Carribean. Sun, sea and, erm, dead bodies. Calling all Agatha Christie fans: this is a classic locked room mystery in which all the protagonists are gathered together at the end for the big reveal. Can the reader solve the mystery before the detective? Mmm, possibly. (I didn’t.) If not you’ll be sure to […]

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REVIEW: ‘Under a Sardinian Sky’ is a feast for the senses

Sometimes writers use two stories when one would do. As much as I enjoyed reading Sara Alexander’s debut novel, ‘Under a Sardinian Sky’, it definitely feels like a book with one story to tell – and with a largely irrelevant second story tacked onto the beginning and end. What’s it about? In 1952, Carmela Chirigorni, […]

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REVIEW ‘Down River’: southern gothic and family ties

How far would you go to protect your family? Could you forgive those who have wronged you? And even if you could, can you ever truly go home? Billed as a novel for those who enjoy books by Raymond Chandler and John Grisham, John Hart’s second book, ‘Down River’, is a dark and atmospheric trip […]

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REVIEW ‘The Other Us’ explores how to live and love

If you could turn back time, would you choose a different life? What a question! Would you? After reading the first few chapters I was intrigued but concerned – had I already worked out exactly what was to come and why? If so, 475 pages could feel like quite an effort to reach a conclusion […]

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REVIEW ‘Larchfield’: poetry, loneliness, guilt and madness

Motherhood. Poetry. Madness – or time travel? Welcome to Helensburgh – home to the young English poet W.H Auden and, years later, English poetess, Dora Fielding, in (English poet) Polly Clark’s emotionally fraught debut novel. What’s it about? Newly married and pregnant, Dora moves to Helensburgh hoping that her new life will engage her as […]

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REVIEW ‘The Empty Chair’ reveals the truth about The Insect Boy

I love reading about forensics. Catching a criminal because of tell-tale threads of fibres or revealing smears of vital DNA is at the heart of shows like CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) and many a crime novel. There’s something so compellingly CERTAIN about forensic evidence…even when competing criminalists are arguing that a piece of evidence supports […]

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Guest Post by Hélene Fermont: What Makes Scandi Writing Different

Scandinavian fiction: if it isn’t dominating our TV screens it’s creeping onto our bookshelves. Whether or not you’re a fan of the trend, it’s often appealing to read novels set abroad and learn a little about another culture – and sometimes, a surprising amount about our own! Hélene Fermont’s second novel, We Never Said Goodbye, is […]

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