Unsayable by Michael Cunningham
Review by Simon Thomas When Michael Cunningham set out to write Unsayable, I wonder if it started as a book about writing that couldn’t keep out memoir. Or perhaps it...
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Downfall of a King: Juan Carlos of Spain, by Paul Preston
Review by Michael Eaude Downfall of a King reuses material from the author’s 2003 political biography of King Juan Carlos of Spain and updates it. In the years since, torrents...
Best Served Cold: Chilling Short Stories of Crime & Revenge (Beyond and Within), edited by Paul Kane & Marie O’Regan
Review by Annabel Flame Tree Publishing’s anthology series, ‘Beyond & Within’ has a broad remit to collect short stories from a variety of genres. Their latest crime collection, Guilty Secrets,...
Land by Maggie O’Farrell
Reviewed by Harriet Maggie O’Farrell’s new book has had quite a mixed reception – some high praise and some rather damning criticism. Having read it myself, which took a long...
Guilty Secrets: From the Crime Writers Association (Beyond and Within), edited by Martin Edwards
Review by Karen Langley The Crime Writers’ Association was formed in 1953 by author John Creasey, with a stated aim to promote, support and celebrate crime writing, and writers of...
The Expansion Project by Ben Pester
Review by Annabel Now out in paperback, The Expansion Project is Pester’s first novel, published after a well-received collection of short stories; a second set, Sail Away Land, is newly...
Spotlight on Publishers: Scorpius Books
Annabel talks to Jacqui Kibby Jacqui Kibby is founder and Publishing Director of Scorpius Books, a UK indie book publisher based in Colchester and a member of the Indie Press...
Lost London: From Crystal Palace to Heston Airport, a History in 25 Missing Buildings, by Paul Knox
Review by Liz Dexter “Having been lost in the Great Fire and again to the Blitz, Christ Church has now arguably been lost again, figuratively, to London’s neoliberal appetites.”(p. 35)...
Flamboyance: The Art of Burning Brightly by Jack Parlett
Review by Liz Dexter While I come at this topic through the lens of my own experience, I share this journey because I believe anyone can learn and benefit from...
The Defendant by G. K. Chesterton
Review by Rob Spence Belles-Lettres is a term you rarely hear nowadays, but once upon a time, it was quite common, as a description for those literary items that defied...