With vivid illustrations, poignant metaphors, and poetic nuances, Heather O’ Neill’s The Lonely Hearts Hotel entices its readers with a narrative about outcast characters seeking to entertain New York City with “The Snowflake Icicle Extravaganza” on their search for stardom. The Lonely Hearts Hotel focuses on the interconnecting themes of fate and tragedy, hope and Read More
Those familiar with Turgenev’s famous novella First Love may immediately expect a love affair of ill-fated, cataclysmic proportions. For those unfamiliar with the reference, the title of Gwendoline Riley’s First Love is cruelly, cleverly deceiving. A love story? Perhaps. But the bitterness and heart-breaking loneliness that plague the pages of this novel breed an unexpectedly Read More
At first, C. E. Morgan’s The Sport of Kings appears to be yet another generational story about a wealthy family living in the American South. It soon becomes clear, however, that the novel is so much more than that. As the story unfolds, Morgan bluntly tackles racism, poverty, rape, obsession, and incest. For those with Read More
I might not have read this novel were it not longlisted for the 2017 Baileys Women’s Prize. The hardcover with its stylised Edward Bawden-like black and red linocut of a rural scene – red sun, red fox, and red blurb byline counterbalanced by the bold black lines of plant life – seemed, well, just a Read More
“Feeling by themselves ain’t what matters.” The Mare, Mary Gaitskill. Think of a girl called Velvet, a dangerous horse, a riding competition, a growing obsession; the elements of one of the most-loved children’s films in the world. Mary Gaitskill’s “The Mare” draws freely and openly on the stories of National Velvet and Black Beauty, but Read More
You may not like this book at first. I didn’t. The prose is ungrammatical and sometimes incomprehensible. For instance: “he at wall. I the edge. Back to. Sheet damp.” But be patient, for these are thoughts, and thoughts don’t care about grammar. They often omit words and leave gaps, and simply splash images and emotions Read More
Although Yejide Ajayi is a confident and educated woman with her own successful business, the society that she lives in recognises only her inability to conceive a child. “Women manufacture children,” her mother-in-law reminds Yejide, “and if you can’t you are just a man. Nobody should call you a woman.” Shortlisted for the 2017 Bailey’s Read More
If you are looking for fiction that intertwines realism and the uncanny then The House at at the Edge of the World by Julia Rochester is the right novel for you, portraying as it does, adulthood from a different perspective, and one that evokes nostalgia by examining the changes and evolution of a child’s vision Read More
Gorsky is Vesna Goldsworthy’s first novel, although she has previously written a memoir and a poetry collection. She moved to London from Belgrade when she was 25 and she writes in English, which is her third language. Gorsky is a re-telling of The Great Gatsby, set in the twenty first century London. Throughout the novel, Read More
