Jill Dawson: Watch Me Disappear
Jill Dawson’s Watch Me Disappear takes as its backdrop the Cambridgeshire Fens around the time of the Soham murders, dropping references in all but name. That the narrator, Tina Humber,…
Florian Zeller: The Fascination Of Evil
Florian Zeller, from what I can gather, is the latest darling of the French literary scene. At twenty-six, he is a novelist, a playwright, and a lecturer. And, for one…
Stephen King: Lisey’s Story
In Lisey’s Story King continues with one of his favourite subjects: writers. In a departure from previous novels like Misery, The Dark Half, and Bag Of Bones, the author is…
Nuruddin Farah: From A Crooked Rib
Nuruddin Farah’s first novel, From A Crooked Rib, looks at life in his native Somalia from a feminine perspective. Despite being male, he choose to use this novel to discuss…
Michel Faber: The Apple (New Crimson Petal Stories)
Usually when coming to the end of a book of brick-like proportions, it’s good that the story is over. Not so, however, with Michel Faber’s The Crimson Petal And The…
Yukio Mishima: The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea
Yukio Mishima’s The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea is a short novel but, due to its tight plot, brevity is not an issue. Published in 1963, seven…
Patrick McGrath: Dr Haggard’s Disease
For months now, a number of people have been reading Patrick McGrath and talking him up. The novel they’ve usually read is Asylum but, just to be contrary, I thought…
Stefan Zweig: The Invisible Collection / Buchmendel
This nice little book from Pushkin Press, about A5 in size with quality paper, contains two shorts from Austrian author Stefan Zweig, whom I’d no knowledge of prior to spotting…
Ian McEwan: Saturday
Ian McEwan’s Saturday is the story of Henry Perowne, a London based neurosurgeon, as he reflects on his life via the events that happen during his day off. Mixing organised…
Louise Welsh: Tamburlaine Must Die
I read Welsh’s first release, The Cutting Room, when the paperback was released and I read it during a day off work. Looking back, I wish I’d went to work…