Category Archives: fiction

Vintage 1954 by Antoine Laurain (Gallic)

Posted on July 31, 2019 by

“It happened in the middle of a brightly moonlight night in the Beaujolais vineyards.” ANTOINE Laurain writes the kind of stories that do not seem to get published in Britain – a plot, a gaggle of characters, mostly quite likable … Continue reading →

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Spring by Ali Smith (Hamish Hamilton)

Posted on April 30, 2019 by

“Now what we don’t want is Facts” THE first two of this potential quartet – Autumn and Winter –  were pleasant if not totally convincing as the contemporary novel of weight and import. This on the other hand opens with … Continue reading →

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The elegance of the hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (Gallic)

Posted on April 8, 2019 by

“Marx has completely changed the way I view the world,” declared the Pallieres boy this morning, although ordinarily he says nary a word to me.” PERHAPS it is just my personal taste, but it seems as if a new form … Continue reading →

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Milkman by Anna Burns (Faber)

Posted on January 25, 2019 by

“The day Somebody McSomebody put a gun to my breast and called me a cat and threatened to shoot me was the same day the milkman died.” THE prose is wonderfully joyful and rambling. The Guardian refers to this winner … Continue reading →

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How’s the pain? by Pascal Garnier (Gallic)

Posted on November 15, 2018 by

“The sound coming from somewhere in the darkness was barekly audible, but it was enough…   I AM unsure about the title, douleur can be translated as pain, but it also implies grief, soreness, aching, distress and misery as in … Continue reading →

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The gallows pole by Benjamin Myers (Bluemoose)

Posted on October 5, 2018 by

“Soot and ash. Snot and spume. Quag and sump and clotted moss. Loam.” THE opening playful poetry should not distract you… we are off to a flying start, it is 1767, we are on a secret errand, we pass the … Continue reading →

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Normal People by Sally Rooney (Faber)

Posted on September 26, 2018 by

“Marianne amswers the door when Connell rings the bell.” BY coincidence I heard a radio broadcast where a well known doctor admitted to flunking out of Oxford because of an unhappy love affair and where the plot details do not … Continue reading →

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