Translated by from the Norwegian by Matt Bagguley Helga Flatland does complicated relationships as I discovered when I read her novel One Last Time back in 2021, so I was keen to read her newest novel Toxic, this time translated by a new-to-me translator in Matt Bagguley. The novel begins in two parallel timelines. The Read More
Month: May 2024
Review catch-up – novels by Marian Engel & Alicia Drake
I managed to sign up for rather a lot of blog tours – but for some fab books – in May, which has meant the other books I’ve read have rather had to take second fiddle. Time to catch up with a couple. Bear by Marian Engel First published in 1976, reprinted by Daunt Books Read More
Hera by Jennifer Saint
I am delighted to be one of those leading off the blogtour for Jennifer Saint’s fourth novel, another feminist retelling of the stories of Ancient Greek Godesses and Heroines, with a dose of Gods and Heroes and other mortals on the side. Before Hera, first came Ariadne, telling the story of her escape from the Read More
The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers by Samuel Burr – Blogtour
What a delight this novel was to read: a feelgood quest to find himself for young fogey Clayton Stumper, who was left in a hatbox on the doorstep of the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers HQ in Bedfordshire in 1993. He was taken in by sixty-seven-years-old director and founder of the organisation Pippa Allsbrook, and brought up Read More
20 Books of Summer – My books… !!!
A very quick post to say, yes, of course I shall participate in the 20 Books of Summer challenge hosted each year by Cathy of https://746books.com/. Yes, I’m going to aim for the full 20. I don’t always achieve it, but always get close. And yes, I am going to cheat in how I choose Read More
Hattie Brings the House Down by Patrick Gleeson
It was a true delight to read this debut novel for the blogtour. A cosy crime mystery set in the world of the theatre, the story is led by Hattie Cocker, who has been hired to be Stage Manager (SM) of a company who will perform Love’s Labour’s Lost at the Tavistock, a theatre attached Read More
The Coming Storm by Greg Mosse – blogtour
Last year I read Mosse’s first novel, The Coming Darkness (reviewed for Shiny here). A labyrinthine thriller set in the near future in 2037 in a world ravaged by global warming and a killer virus, it introduced us to Alexandre Lamarque, who works for the French equivalent of MI6. Alex found himself caught up in Read More
Watchlist: April
Series watch: Telly suddenly got good again – I’ve had a splendid April’s viewing – largely thanks to Prime offering a cheap deal on Paramount+ TV (£3.50 pcm for 3 months) which meant subscribing to see the superb adaptation of Amor Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow was affordable. AGinM stars Ewan McGregor as the Russian Read More
Murder Under the Midnight Sun by Stella Blómkvist
Translated by Quentin Bates It’s my turn on the blogtour for the second Blómkvist novel to be translated by Quentin Bates for Corylus Books, who continue their quest to bring us translated crime fiction with a sense of social justice. Murder Under the Midnight Sun was published in 2010, and the series has a huge Read More
The Book of Witty Women – introduced by Helen Lederer – #blogtour
I don’t read that many short stories, but those I do read tend to fall into horror and weird genres, sometimes or comedy-horror/weird, and occasionally some of them will be just comic. The latter is mostly the case here in the first book of short stories supported by the Comedy Women in Print organisation (CWIP), Read More
