Irish author Audrey Magee’s first novel The Undertaking was shortlisted for a number of major literary awards. So there was some expectation around her follow up The Colony, a novel that explores, in a mainly allegorical way, the fraught history of Ireland. An expectation that is well and truly met. The action of The Colony…
A crucible is a vessel in which substances are heated to high temperatures; when impure elements are melted away, only the pure parts remain. Metaphorically speaking, it therefore represents the perfect titular description for American playwright Arthur Miller’s award-winning classic The Crucible, a play which was itself written as an extended metaphor of the hysteria…
One of the world’s most inventive filmmakers produces one of the year’s most inventive films in The Shape of Water. This vivid fantasy from Guillermo del Toro is both a loving homage to cinema and an engrossing tale in its own right. From his first feature, Cronos, del Toro has been fascinated by monsters of one…
In true international award-winning Black Honey Company style, One the Bear bursts on the audience. In an apocalyptic aesthetic avalanche, its stars, the story’s titular One (Candy Bowers) and her best friend Ursula (Nancy Denis), emerge from a rubbish skip. One and Ursula are bears attempting to escape a hunter. Such is the reality of…
Here’s the thing. I’ve never read a Margaret Atwood book before. Never. Having heard so much praise about her writing, I was excited when a copy of The Heart Goes Last arrived in my mailbox. Was it the best Atwood to start with? Here’s the blurb: A sinister, wickedly funny and deeply disturbing novel about a near…
