This novel by Patrick Gayle has been recommended by a multitude of sources. Not only has it been shortlisted for the 2015 Costa book of the year awards, but it was also picked for the BBC Radio 2 Simon Mayo Book Club and the Waterstones Book Club. Harry Crane is born into a life of […]
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Category Archives: Book Reviews
Book Review: A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
A great family story, this covers American life from the Depression to the present time. Red and Abby are the two main protagonists together with their children. Denny is perhaps the most interesting member of the family. Intensely private, guarded, sometimes he disappears from their lives, then reappears with a daughter, Susan. His wife doesn’t […]
‘Gorsky’ by Vesna Goldsworthy
A captivating tale of big money, Russian beauty and good books. A bold and brilliant re-rendering of F. Scott. Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Vesna Goldsworthy plays out the class and caste tensions of Fitzgerald’s East Coast versus West Coast classic, but set among London’s new immigrants of Russian Nouveau Riche. Born out of the ashes […]
‘In My House’ by Alex Hourston
Maggie lives a life of careful routines and measured pleasures. But everything changes when, walking through Gatwick a few days shy of her fifty-eighth birthday, a young woman approaches her and whispers a single word: ‘Help.’ Maggie responds, and in that moment saves a stranger, earning Anja her freedom and ensuring the arrest of a […]
‘Something to Hide’ by Deborah Moggach
A warm, witty and wise novel about the unexpected twists that later life can bring, from the hugely popular author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Tulip Fever. Everybody has something to hide, but while some secrets are mildly embarrassing, others are shocking and possibly perilous. Deborah Moggach uses this facet of the human […]
Book Review: The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins
Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ‘Jess and Jason’, she calls them. Their life – as she sees it […]
Book Review: The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer
She is the missing girl. But she doesn’t know she’s lost. Carmel Wakeford becomes separated from her mother at a local children’s festival, and is found by a man who claims to be her estranged grandfather. He tells her that her mother has had an accident and that she is to live with him […]
Book Review: Mrs Hemingway by Naomi Wood
In the dazzling summer of 1926, Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley travel from their home in Paris to a villa in the south of France. They swim, play bridge, and drink gin. But wherever they go they are accompanied by the glamorous and irrepressible Fife. Fife is Hadley’s best friend. She is also Ernest’s […]
Romantic Classics
Emma from Bookish in Crickhowell gives us this month’s recommendations. With Valentine’s Day recently in mind, we take a look at some classic books with an enduring theme published by Vintage Classics. We’ve long been a fan of this publisher’s choice of cover art, and think they make the perfect gift for a loved one. […]
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves – by Karen Joy Fowler
Rosemary has just started at college, and she’s decided not to tell anyone a thing about her family. Rosemary is now an only child, but she used to have a sister the same age as her, and an older brother. Both are now gone – vanished from her life. There’s something unique about Rosemary’s sister, […]
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