Focus Magazines The local magazines for Abergavenny, Crickhowell, Brecon & Talgarth – Events, News and Advertising

Category Archives: Literature

Flash!

Those of you who are familiar with Flash Fiction will know that the fourth annual National Flash Fiction Day is coming up on 27th June. If you’re not sure what Flash Fiction is, then read on. Flash Fiction is widely recognised as a style of fictional literature of extreme brevity, although there is no formal […]

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 […]

Write Club

If you’re reading this in the Crickhowell area, you’re very lucky. The lovely and talented Rebecca Loncraine offers a range of Creative Writing classes in the area. This article is really aimed at those of you in and around Brecon. Book clubs are wonderful. It’s great to be able to discuss a brilliant book with […]

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, […]

About A Bear Competition

You may remember that in November’s issue of the Focus, we featured an interview with writer and illustrator, Jackie Morris. In celebration of Jackie’s book release – About a Bear – we ran a competition to win a signed copy of Jackie Morris’s latest book and a needle felted bear made by Karen Hines of […]

An Interview with Jackie Morris

Stone wall and gate

Renowned illustrator and author, Jackie Morris, will be visiting Bookish in Crickhowell in November. She kindly took time out in her hectic schedule to tell us a little about her new publication, Something About a Bear Jackie, where did the idea come from for your new book Something About a Bear? I have loved bears […]

An Interview with Jackie Morris

Renowned illustrator and author, Jackie Morris, will be visiting Bookish in Crickhowell in November. She kindly took time out in her hectic schedule to tell us a little about her new publication, Something About a Bear Jackie, where did the idea come from for your new book Something About a Bear? I have loved bears […]

Book Review: The Burning by M.R.Hall

A family tragedy. A buried secret. What lies hidden in the flames? A dense, bitterly cold fog has settled over the Wye Valley when Bristol Coroner Jenny Cooper is called to the scene of a dreadful tragedy: in the village of Blackstone Ley, a house has burned to the ground with three members of a […]

Please support our local businesses