Every now and then a book comes out that when you read it, your world is changed, whether that is that you’ve just discovered a writer who you now adore, whether it moves you in ways you’ve not been moved before, or that the storytelling is so sublime that the book you believe is destined
It’s hard to go through childhood in your second language. And when your father puts you on the spot by teaching you the wrong way to pronounce the word “knife”, making you the class’s laughing stock, it doesn’t get better. It’s that time when you find out that parents don’t always have all the answers,
Taking a closely considered look at grief and guilt, Here is the Beehive is an enchanting and poetic novel that uses form to unravel the relationship between Ana, Connor and Rebecca. Ana, the grieving ‘other woman’ struggles to come to terms with how to mourn someone whose ‘real-life’ she knew very little about, despite their
Every once in a while, we come across a novel so impressive and so mesmerising, that we find it offers up our own sense of reflection, or an opportunity for us to consider the stories we ourselves would like to put out into the world. For me, Below Deck was just that. Throughout reading, I
The Earth is healed and humans have been extinct for 500 years. Those two things are connected. In the dying days of human civilisation a scientist created a better species, the Erta. Human-like but with none of their physical and emotional flaws. They are walking problem solvers with one purpose – to fix the Earth.
Reading Stephen King for me is a type of therapy; one that is good for the soul and mind. When I get a new book from him it’s like sliding on a pair of comfy slippers, pouring myself a hot steaming cup of coffee and disappearing for a while into the world and characters he’s
Christopher Stanley is making ever increasing waves in the horror genre and his latest offering of The Lamppost Huggers creates a tsunami of macabre delights, sweeping the reader off their feet and dragging them into the frothing deadly undertow that are his words and visceral imagination, prepare to be scared, entertained and scarred by this
Dive into steam-punk Japan with Natasha Pulley’s highly anticipated sequel, The Lost Future of Pepperharrow. Favourite characters return for an exciting, daring adventure, which perfectly blends the worlds of science and mythology. New additions help keep the story fresh, and Pulley’s decision to shift the setting to some lesser-known areas of Japan allows for some
Beth an artist is a woman harassed in life, torn between her American partner Sol, thirteen year old daughter Fern – art and the disappearance of her mother when she was just thirteen. Beth is a complicated and highly anxious protagonist, who is encouraged by Sol, so seek therapy with Dr Tamara Bywater – who
Delving into Diary of a Murderer, one is filled with a curious sense of unease. Despite holding short stories of definite direction and plots, one wanders around inside them as if in a David Lynch movie. We have characters, progressions and plot twists, but they somehow the tone of these stories supersedes their storylines. There
