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…
It’s been a few years since I’ve read the Millennium series (and watched the Swedish film versions), but having enjoyed them, I was keen to see how a new writer would tackle the series. It’s big shoes to fill, but David Lagercrantz stepped into those shoes with style and clever storytelling. Here’s the blurb: The…
My book club read books on ‘royals’ last month, and since this was on my review shelf, it was an easy choice. At the same time, I was watching TV series The Tudors, and the month before I’d finished Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall. I’m in Tudor overload! Here’s the blurb: Why would a woman marry a serial…
Over the years I’ve read a few Lynda La Plante novels featuring DCI Jane Tennison. Actor Helen Mirren, who portrayed Tennison in the award-winning ITV television drama series Prime Suspect, described Tennison as “extremely directed, ambitious, talented and very uncompromising”. Fans of the series, both book and television, will know that although Tennison is an extremely skilled detective,…
I’ve had this book on my shelf for a while but after a run of books focusing on the Nazi regime, I held off reading it until I was ready. When I finally picked up the novel, I discovered a quirky character tale that lingered with me. Here’s the blurb: Aged 105, Rose has endured more…
Imagine you are driving late at night. It’s raining heavily and you don’t know the area at all. You might be lost. You pull over to rest in a tiny, empty town. And then someone bangs on the window, pleading for help. Behind her is a man. What would you do? This split-second decision forms…
In Double Madness, Caroline de Costa’s debut crime novel, an undercurrent of danger runs through a Far North Queensland setting already heavy with humidity and stifling secrets. One for crime fiction lovers who prefer their stories edgy, the novel is a solid debut that takes readers into the sordid underbelly of psycho-sexual depravity, from blackmail to murder, from cheating to fetishes. When…
Double act author A J Rich (Amy Hempel and Jill Ciment) build on themes introduced in the classic 18th-century French novel Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, also known as Dangerous Liaisons. I’ve seen the 1988 film version and the play – both are fascinating – so I had high hopes for The Hand That Feeds…
Lyrical prose and rich description sets apart Naked: A Novel of Lady Godiva as an historical novel of note. Eliza Redgold’s distinctive writing style paints a stunning portrait of Lady Godiva, a woman who rose above the challenges and restrictions of her time to defend her people and land. As the blurb says, “We know her…
I haven’t read any of French author Michel Bussi’s novels before After The Crash, but I think that’s about to change. I was hooked fast by this novel. Here’s the blurb: On the night of 22 December 1980, a plane crashes on the Franco-Swiss border and is engulfed in flames. 168 out of 169 passengers…
