In her 2008 memoir, The Two Kinds of Decay, Sarah Manguso recounted her experience of living with the autoimmune disease she contracted in her early twenties. With The Guardians she again makes a study of her own suffering – this time in the wake of her close friend Harris Wulfson’s suicide. Harris threw himself under Read More
This short, but memorable novel was first published in Italian in 2011, but – luckily for readers with no expertise in that language – it has been translated. The author’s name may not be familiar to many readers in English, but this is Mander’s third book and debut novel, and it is heartily recommended by Read More
It is not hard to see why Tendai Huchu’s The Hairdresser of Harare was one of The Observer’s top ten African books of 2012. Huchu immediately draws his reader in with his snappy, darkly humourous writing style, reminiscent of others in the newer generation of African writers such as Zakes Mda. Huchu has also chosen Read More
There has been no shortage of praise for Rupert Thomson’s latest work of historical fiction, Secrecy; the Independent called it “fabulously atmospheric” while the Financial Times lauded the novel for its “superb depiction of a pre-Enlightenment world, shimmering with superstitions, repression and incomprehension”. Set in a meticulously realised 17th century Florence, Secrecy follows “Zummo”, a Read More
In recent interviews, Donna Tartt has spoken eloquently about the immersive and addictive magic of good stories, strong characters and plot, and of her desire to work these qualities into her own writing. While such aims might describe a popular novel consumed at great speed only to be tossed aside equally quickly, Tartt’sThe Goldfinch is altogether Read More
The defeat of the Germans at the battle of Stalingrad in 1943 initiated the German retreat and is considered by many to be the turning point of the Second World War. Understandably then, the battle forms the inspiration for a multitude of works on the Second World War. The subject matter of Audrey Magee’s The Read More
Nigeria is a country which has produced its fair share of groundbreaking and influential writers of the African canon. If Americanah, Ngozi Adichie’s third novel is anything to go by, it would not seem unfeasible that in the future she may be joining her country men Achebe and Soyinka on literature syllabuses across the globe. Read More
Eimear McBride’s debut novel, A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing has been widely hailed as extraordinary. It won the Goldsmith’s prize for fiction 2013 and saw the author hailed as “a genius” in The Guardian. McBride’s debut tells the story of a girl growing up in Northern Ireland, and her relationship with her brother. The Read More
“They said I must die” In 1829 Agnes Magnúsdóttir and two others are condemned to death for murder and arson. Lacking a suitable prison, Agnes is held in the intimate, domestic setting of a family farm to await her execution, where she inspires both fear and fascination in its inhabitants, and is visited by the Read More
Victoria Hendry’s debut novel explores aspects and perceptions of national identity against the background of the Scottish independence movement and the development of the Scottish National Party at the time of the Second World War. The novel is based on well-researched historical evidence, though Hendry writes in the novel’s historical notes that some poetic licence Read More