Category Archives: fiction

Satin Island by Tom McCarthy (Jonathan Cape)

Posted on August 9, 2015 by drewsmith28

  “Turin is where the famous shroud is from, the one showing Christ’s body supine after crucifixion: hands folded over genitals, eyes closed, head crowned with thorns. The image isn’t really visible on the bare linen. It only emerged…” U … Continue reading →

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All the light we cannot see by Anthony Doerr (Fourth Estate)

Posted on June 23, 2015 by drewsmith28

“Leaflets. At dusk they pour from the sky. They blow across ramparts, turn cartwheeels over rooftops…Urgent message to the inhabitants of this town. Depart immediately to open country.” He is the orphan radio repairer. German. She is the blind daughter … Continue reading →

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The Gathering by Anne Enright (Vintage)

Posted on June 1, 2015 by drewsmith28

“I would like to write down what happened in my grandmother’s house the summer I was eight or nine, but I am not sure if it really did happen.” THE back cover copy on my edition says that this 2007 … Continue reading →

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The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman (Simon & Schuster)

Posted on May 21, 2015 by drewsmith28

“You would think it would be impossible to find anything new in the world, creatures no man has seen before, one-of-a-kind oddities in which nature has taken a backseat to the coursing pulse of the fantastical and the marvelous.” STORY … Continue reading →

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Three Brothers by Peter Ackroyd (Vintage)

Posted on April 30, 2015 by drewsmith28

“In the London borough of Camden, in the middle of the last century, there lived three brothers…”  HISTORIANS should always write at least one novel set in their own era. They have the training for detail to record the now. … Continue reading →

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Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Vintage)

Posted on April 28, 2015 by drewsmith28

  “It was 7 minutes after midnight. The dog was lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs Shear’s house.” On first reading of Mark Haddon’s Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time … Continue reading →

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The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro (Faber)

Posted on March 30, 2015 by drewsmith28

“You would have searched a long time for the sort of winding lane or tranquil meadow for which England later became celebrated.” We are in Shrek country. Frodo-land. There are ogres, sprites, curses. It is middle England, post Arthurian, pre … Continue reading →

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Brooklyn by Colm Toibin (Penguin)

Posted on March 14, 2015 by drewsmith28

“Eilis Lacey, sitting at the window of the upstairs living room in the house on Friary Street, noticed her sister walking briskly from work.” Another major Irish talent. This one from County Wexford. A professor no less in creative writing. … Continue reading →

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Sleep in Peace Tonight by James MacManus (Duckworth)

Posted on February 3, 2015 by drewsmith28

“The seaplane came into view just as the winter sun had begun to settle into the English Channel.” WOLF Hall for another era. Bring up the Brogue. We are at the court of king Winston. Britain 1941. The empire is … Continue reading →

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The Children Act by Ian McEwan (Jonathan Cape)

Posted on January 23, 2015 by drewsmith28

“London. Trinity term one week old. Implacable June weather. Fiona Maye, a High Court Judge, at home on Sunday evening.” The BBC used to be very good at this kind of drama, a little unassuming well grounded plot that turns … Continue reading →

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