Category Archives: fiction

Love by Toni Morrison (Vintage)

Posted on November 28, 2019 by

“The women’s legs are spread wide open, so I hum.” I Am surprised no one has tried to film of this excellent book such is the lure of the dancing and parties at the hotel, the scenic beach side setting … Continue reading →

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Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo (Hamish Hamilton)

Posted on November 27, 2019 by

“Amma is walking along the promenade of the waterway that bisects her city, a few early morning barges cruises slowly by…” PLOT? What plot? Themes, yes we have them agogo – mixed race, London, gender, motherhood etc – but no, … Continue reading →

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Strange weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami (Portobello)

Posted on October 26, 2019 by

“His full name was Mr Harutsuna Matsumoto, but I called him Sensei. Not Mr or Sir, but Sensei” THE original title of this off-beat romance was The Briefcase which as I read it is titillating bait. Which way does this … Continue reading →

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The Testament by Margaret Atwood (Chatto & Windus)

Posted on October 8, 2019 by

“Only dead people are allowed to have statues, but I have been given one while still alive. Already I am petrified.” THAT is, perhaps, one of the finest opening lines to a novel I have read, defining, coy, a come … Continue reading →

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Shadowplay by Joseph O’Connor (Harvill Secker)

Posted on August 21, 2019 by

My dearest Ellen, Please excuse this too-long-delayed response JOSEPH, how nice to see you again. Another tome, lovely. A pleasure, I am sure. A treat even. Back in the Ghost Light territory are we? I never connected that Bram Stoker … Continue reading →

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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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