The Imperfect Art of Caring by Jessica Ryn

When I started this blog, I made the active decision that I would only write reviews of books I recommended even when I did not personally like them. The reason for this is simple: I am an author, and although I consider it my own fault if I read any reviews I may one day...

Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Sutanto

Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Sutanto is the freshly published sequel to the award-winning Dial A For Aunties: the Auties are back, and this time it's Meddy's wedding that's on the brink of chaos. After bonding over the corpse-hiding shenanigans of the first book, Nathan and Meddy are getting married. Okay, so her...

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman is not the kind of book I thought I'd enjoy - I don't really read crime, cozy or otherwise, plus I'm generally left a bit cold by any books that do numbers. A bestseller is a book that appeals to the people who read 5 books a...

Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov

Andrey Kurkov is probably Ukraine's best-known writer, and Death and the Penguin is probably his best-known work. Originally published in 1996, it is the slightly odd story of an obituary writer and his pet penguin, Misha.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Being both old and rural, YA slightly passed me by. I'm of that generation that went straight from Sweet Valley High and Point Horror to Stephen King. By the time I was 18, my local library had a shelf devoted to books for 14-19 year-olds, but it appeared to be curated by somebody who'd never...

Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler

Most of Anner Tyler's work can be reviewed with a single sentence: If you enjoy Anner Tyler, you will enjoy this Anne Tyler book. I do like Anne Tyler - I like the small details of her character's lives and their frustratingly human actions, so I'm really pleased to see the marketing push around her...

Dial A For Aunties by Jesse Sutanto

Dial A For Aunties by Jesse Sutanto has the distinction of being possibly the only book in existence whose US cover I consider to be better than the UK one. The UK one - pictured here - is fine, I guess: a worried-looking Asian girl makes a phone call on a rotary phone. The US...

I’m giving out in The Bookseller

For those who don't know, I'm a writer who is currently enjoying life on submission, which is when your agent sends your MS out to editors and they write back to tell you they loved it, you're an amazing writer, your dialogue is terrific, but they won't be making an offer (true story). It's a...

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

UK Cover of Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan Small Things Like These has been quietly receiving critical accolades galore since its publication and has been shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio prize. I, however, am a person of extremely poor taste and discernment, because I neither liked it, nor understand what's supposed to be...

4 Great Books About Ukraine

I am not Ukrainian, but my Great Uncle was. He was born into what was Poland, fought against the Soviets, was forcibly conscripted by the Nazis, and came to the UK after WW2 as a displaced person who could never return home for fear of being arrested and killed by the new regime. He was...