Today I’m welcoming the lovely Katy Collins to Buriedunderbooks to talk about travelling and adventure. Katy certainly knows what she’s talking about. When her wedding plans fell apart, she booked a solo round the world ticket and hasn’t looked back. Not content with simply seeing the sights and snapping up some souvenirs, Katy used the […]
So you’re an apartment manager and you blog about your experiences. What’s the logical next step? Writing a story about an apartment manager, of course. Heck, why not be ambitious and aim for a whole series of books? As Erin Huss, owner of The Apartment Manager’s Blog, says on her Goodreads page, “I have a […]
Last year I read and LOVED G. J. Minett’s debut novel, ‘The Hidden Legacy’. Since then I’ve been looking forward to reading his second novel, so I was delighted to be offered the opportunity to read it ahead of publication. ‘Lie in Wait’ is very different from Minett’s first novel – there’s an ongoing police investigation as […]
Autism is everywhere. Regardless of the cause(s), diagnoses are increasing and, having grown up with two autistic siblings, I was keen to read Keith Stuart’s ‘A Boy Made of Blocks’, which promised to be ‘an astonishingly authentic story of love, family and autism‘. What’s it about? Alex hates his job and, essentially, his life. He loves his […]
You might think this story is about a ring. That’s only the lure. It’s a story about deception, myth, manipulation and family feuds, and it positively seethes with blackmail and corruption. What’s the story? Tim Harding agrees to do a favour for a friend by bidding on his behalf at an auction for an ancient […]
So. Why retell Austen at all? Having read and reviewed Joanna Trollope’s ‘Sense and Sensibility’ (mildly amusing but ultimately unconvincing) and Val McDermid’s ‘Northanger Abbey’ (much more entertaining but still a little daft in places), I’m fast reaching the conclusion that it’s purely in order to shift a few books with minimum effort by appealing to […]
It’s any parent’s greatest fear: losing their child. Unfortunately, such a devastating loss can also lead to couples losing each other, and that’s certainly the case with Lola and Duncan Drummond, the married couple at the center of Colette Dartford’s debut novel ‘Learning to Speak American’. What’s it about? Since they lost their young daughter, […]
It seems many journalists harbour a desire to branch out into fiction. Today on Buried Under Books I’m privileged to be interviewing journalist and prize-winning short-story writer turned debut novelist Mary McCluskey about her emotionally complex novel, ‘Intrusion’. In this dark and psychologically acute tale, a once happily-married couple are struggling to cope with the […]
I’m always a little dubious when I’m told that ‘only’ one person can join the dots. What, exactly, makes DS Aector McAvoy so special that he is the only police officer able to see a connection between three seemingly disparate murders? It seems to be his conscience and a determination, sadly not shared by all […]
Jane Austen knew what she was doing when she made the relationship between sisters central to her novels. Elizabeth Bennet needs Jane’s gentle reminders that people are capable of more than Lizzy is minded to give them credit for, and Jane needs periodic, pragmatic dousing with Lizzy’s realism. Marianne and Elinor are even more obviously […]