Rebecca Miller’s latest novel would be as well titled Jacob’s Feast as Jacob’s Folly; so voracious is the author’s appetite for detail and the narrator’s lust for experience. Born into a poor family of Jewish peddlers in eighteenth century Paris, Jacob Cerf breathes his last while contemplating the pooling rivulets of wax on an ornate, Read More
Denis Johnson’s Train Dreams, a novella about an early 20th-century logger and bridge builder in the northwestern United States, has garnered rave reviews from publications such as The Scotsman, The Observer, and The New York Times. Its straightforward, even stilted, prose imitates the hapless career of the orphaned Robert Granier. Robert grows up north of Read More
Bhalla Strand is a structurally complex novel, set across two different historical periods (1910 and 2010), utilising a number of different narrative voices and elaborating on several themes. At its heart, however, is a relatively simple romantic tale – or rather, two tales, linked by a fictional Scottish island which in itself forms one of Read More
21 Revolutions was commissioned to mark the first two decades of Glasgow Women’s Library. It features the work of 21 visual artists and 21 writers, each inspired by items from the Library’s rich collection of artefacts, books and art. Despite its size (and price!), it’s no mere coffee-table bagatelle. On the contrary, 21 Revolutions Read More
Ten Days in Jamaica, the title of Ifeona Fulani’s new collection of short stories, hints at a brief sojourn in the Caribbean,suggesting a series of postcard snapshots of various island locales. Fulani’s collection of views and vistas travels much further than the average vacation visit or perfunctory tour guide; instead she offers journeys through and Read More
The Circle is Dave Eggers’ fifth novel, and charts the story of Mae Holland, an able but unexceptional college graduate, plucked from small town existence by Annie, her (ruthless and exceptional) former roommate. Annie holds a highflying post with ‘The Circle’, a Palo Alto search and social media company well on its way to global Read More
With four well received novels under his belt, and praise from the likes of Ian Rankin and Irvine Welsh, physicist turned-author Doug Johnstone returns with his latest offering Gone Again. A psychological thriller in two distinct halves, the reader is immediately engaged by his/her proximity to the protagonist’s emotions, and drawn further in by a Read More
The Purgatory Press/After The End is a book of two parts, which skillfully contributes to the tradition of narrative innovation in the contemporary short story. The first section, “The Purgatory Press”, is a novella made up of fictional entries in the catalogue of a now-defunct publishing house, Purgatory Press. The second half of the work,” Read More
Exploring memory and solitude in a deeply affecting narrative, Miral al-Tahawy delights and engrosses in her latest novel, Brooklyn Heights. Through an examination of the inner world of Hend, a newly-arrived immigrant in New York City, and also the lives and minds of the people she meets as she attempts to adjust to her new Read More
For many, the term “Nordic Noir” has come to describe their Saturday evening television viewing and, indeed, the success of shows such as The Killing, The Bridge, and Wallander, has brought the genre firmly into the public consciousness. However, long before BBC 4 got in on the act, Nordic Noir was being defined and developed Read More