Idiopathy‘s hilarious prose, which is at turns terse and sharp and sprawling and circular, is reminiscent of David Foster Wallace at his most entrancing. Continue Reading Book Review: ...
Should writers resist the temptation to watch their creations come to life on screen? Oliver Francis on how the film versions of James Bond changed Ian Fleming’s conception of his ...
Daniel Ellis reviews Matt Hill’s debut novel, The Folded Man, and finds much to savour in this dystopian tale of broken Britain. Continue Reading Novel: The Folded ...
Gwen Smith is intrigued by the prospect of a new print-only feminist magazine that promises to “fight fire with fire”. Continue Reading Ladybeard: A New Kind of Women’s ...
One hesitates before calling A Tale for the Time Being a “novel of ideas”, which presupposes an imbalance toward themes over character, but it would be impossible to truly enjoy ...
Emma Cooper discusses the theme of transgression in one of her favourite books, MJ Hyland’s This Is How. Continue Reading Transgression and MJ Hyland’s ‘This Is How.’
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A decade ago the web remained quarantined indoors, anchored to desktops by Ethernet umbilical cords, and a good novel could still help to pass the time on a heaving tube ...
Global warming. Now, there’s a phrase that can divide opinion, stir up controversy and shine a spotlight on apathy It’s nearly impossible to discuss without resorting to well-trodden rhetorical ground ...
Sam Dodson ponders why we are so stung when the truths revealed in a celebrity memoir turn out to be lies. Conversely, why do we willingly watch, read and engage ...
“Austen was worldlier, more intellectual and more professional than she was portrayed…” Andre van Loon on a fresh look at a hidden Jane Austen, revealed through royalty cheques, hats, jewellery, ...
Gwen Smith considers the unsung merits of North Wales, Durham, canal boat holidays and the W.I as potential settings for murder mystery novels. Continue Reading Best Settings for ...
For our Mystery theme, Thomas Chadwick revisits a postmodern mystery in which the clues seem infinite and everything may mean everything … or nothing. First published in 1965, Thomas Pynchon’s ...
Kate Brown on a story of life for a mother and her two daughters after they escape from a religious cult. Down on her luck in her teens, Amaranth marries ...
If The Alchemist or The Kite Runner haven’t satisfied your curiosity on the spiritual development of wandering boys, Manisha Jolie Amin’s début novel should be your next read. Dancing to ...
With every sequel, with every repetition of form and the creation of tropes, our ability to find a little mystery we can relate to disappears.We begin to know what a ...
Gwen Smith looks at the current controversy over the role of the “sugar daddy” phenomenon in Africa, and the treatment of the concept in the Western media. Continue ...
“Women with desire and devilry in their eyes. Detectives with pistols in their paws and not enough luck to fill a matchbox. Damp, deserted roadways. Hot-sheet motels. Women in peril, ...
Amber Dermon’s debut novel is about the dark side of American private school life. In it, the 80s come to stand for a loss of innocence and a pervasive, if ...
How different, if at all, is the art of songwriting compared to that of crafting poetry? I would be inclined to argue that the answer is in the question: poetry ...
Gwen Smith investigates the death of the handwritten love letter in an age of marriage proposals on Reddit, Facebook flirting and internet dating. Continue Reading The Sad ...
