Self-editing is definitely the most difficult kind of editing. Recently I reviewed Lynn Shepherd’s excellent novel ‘Tom-All-Alone’s’, a literary murder mystery with its roots in Charles Dickens’ ‘Bleak House’. I had a lot more to say about it than could comfortably fit in one post, so below are some more thoughts about the narrative style […]
If you like murder mysteries, detective stories and mock Victorian fiction, Lynn Shepherd has a treat for you. Meet Charles Maddox, an honourable man fighting for truth and justice in a world where money means power and lack of either can be deadly. What’s it about? London, 1850. Charles Maddox has been forced to leave […]
Sometimes there is no safe place. So begins the blurb for Tana French’s fourth novel, ‘Broken Harbour’, in which it gradually becomes clear that a family’s house and their relationship with it has played a significant role in their murders. What’s it about? A family of four have been found slain in their own home. […]
Some books are comforting diversions from reality. Recently I spotted Jill Mansell’s ‘The One You Really Want’ on my ereader and remembered that I used to enjoy her books sufficiently to have purchased several. Despite this not featuring on my current TBR list, it jumped to the top of my Actually Reading list due to […]
Sometimes you see a book and just know you’re going to love it. That’s how I felt when I spotted ‘Gooseberry’ by Michael Gallagher on Librarything. The fact that I had yet to read either Wilkie Collins’ ‘The Moonstone’, which is the inspiration and touchstone for Gallagher’s novel, or anything previously written by Gallagher himself, […]
“The Rolling Stones? They won’t last.” I’m pretty sure that the knowing smirk invited by comments like the one above is the only reason I occasionally read historical fiction. ‘Kiss Me Quick’ is set in 1960s Brighton and features mods, rockers, gangsters and a massively corrupt police force, so there’ll be drugs, violence, fighting and […]
Espionage, murder, romance and humour; this novel has them all. Considered by many to be the inaugural detective novel, Wilkie Collins’ nineteenth century novel ‘The Moonstone’ is a classic. What’s it about? A precious gem is stolen, a curse follows the thief and three Hindus sacrifice their caste to retrieve it. This brief précis gives […]
What would life be like if your brother communicated with you through the wind, the waves, the movement of a fox? What would life be like if he communicated with you despite being dead? Meet 19 year old Matthew Homes. He’ll tell you he doesn’t hear voices. But he does hear his brother. ‘I’ll tell […]
Don’t judge this book by its seriously creepy cover. (Seriously. Creepy.) If you did, you might miss out on a treat. What’s it about? 13 year old Harriet is trying hard to grow up. Her reluctant entrance into adolescence is made worse by her parents’ reactions to her long-dead brother: her father has moved away, […]
Remember how awful Nick and Amy Dunne were in ‘Gone Girl’? They just got worse. ‘Gone Bitch’ – one of two parodies of Gillian Flynn’s bestselling ‘Gone Girl’ – is a cruder take on the original with even more unlikeable characters. N.B. If you’ve not yet read ‘Gone Girl’ but intend to do so then […]