Robert MacFarlane: The Lost Words
The story behind The Lost Words (2017) by Robert MacFarlane, and illustrated by Jackie Morris, is a sad one for lovers of language whose childhood was steeped in nature. In…
Stephen King: Fairy Tale
The opening dedication of Stephen King’s latest novel suggests where his mind was at: “Thinking of REH, ERB, and, of course, HPL.”, the initials calling to mind authors of early…
Elizabeth Strout: Oh William!
In Oh William! (2021), the third book of Elizabeth Strout’s ongoing Amgash series, she returns to Lucy Barton as memoirist. While the first novel, My Name Is Lucy Barton (2016),…
Elizabeth Strout: Anything is Possible
Anything is Possible (2017) is a welcome return to the world of Lucy Barton, narrator of Elizabeth Strout’s My Name Is Lucy Barton. More of a companion piece, this is…
Elizabeth Strout: My Name is Lucy Barton
Were it not for the addition of Elizabeth Strout’s Oh William! to the 2022 Booker Prize longlist I would likely have never considered a read of My Name Is Lucy…
Danielle Mémoire: Public Reading Followed by Discussion
When reading a book you can reasonably expect a clear delineation of author, reader, and character. Not so in Danielle Mémoire’s 1994 literary exercise, Public Reading Followed by Discussion (tr.…
Núria Bendicho: Dead Lands
Dead Lands (2021, tr: Maruxa Relaño & Martha Tennent, 2022), by Núria Bendicho, is a southern gothic in northeastern Spain, occupying a grim Faulknerian microcosm in and around a Catalonian…
Katixa Agirre: Mothers Don’t
Killing your darlings is well-worn advice given to writers labouring over something that just isn’t working and would be better excised from their work. However, in Katixa Agirre’s Mothers Don’t,…
Becky Chambers: To Be Taught If Fortunate
To Be Taught If Fortunate (2019) by Becky Chambers opens with an undisclosed situation on a exo-planet in the 22nd century and then recounts the story so far. Told by…
Sophie Jabés: Alice, the Sausage
Alice, the Sausage (2003, tr. Catherine Petit and Paul Buck, 2006) was the debut novel of French writer Sophie Jabés and published in English by Dedalus Books as part of…