The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You

Decades after leaving Iran as a child refugee, Dina Nayeri travels back to the location, both psychological and geographical, in which she waited for her asylum claim to be processed. Late in this powerful memoir, after a particularly distressing moment in her research, Nayeri must remind herself why she feels compelled to return to those early moments of her life: ‘Now that I have a daughter, it’s time I made sense of my own story and identity so she can be certain of hers.’ It is, of course, a common enough experience to find oneself reflecting on one’s origins, but to return to the themes and scenarios of Nayeri’s youth takes an especially courageous and direct gaze.

HOMELANDS: The History of a Friendship

Chitra Ramaswamy’s second book explores what home means in an individual life and the role family and language play as fundamental elements in its evolution, as much as the physical place we find ourselves living. She opens up the shifting relationships between homeland and motherland, between the actual place we are situated and an elusive sense of origin, of connection with an elsewhere which is indirect—imaginal even—tugging at the mind and heart.

Stories We Tell Ourselves

Former Bishop of Edinburgh, Richard Holloway explores the delicate intersection of faith and reality in his 31st book. Carefully examining the relationship between religion, belief, and perception, Stories We Tell Ourselves is written as much for others as himself. Holloway feels a path forward, navigating the fallout of a millennia of reading our species’ stories Read More

Antlers of Water

‘Antlers of Water’—the phrase is MacCaig’s—and for several reasons it’s an apt title for this new anthology of ‘Writing on the Nature and Environment of Scotland’. That craggy map. A land that is as much water, as land. Those antlers, perfectly seen by the poet, delve deeply into what it is to live in Scotland. Read More

COURAGE CALLS TO COURAGE EVERYWHERE

‘Courage calls to courage everywhere, and its voice cannot be denied.’ Celebrated author Jeanette Winterson takes the first phrase of Millicent Fawcett’s stirring words for the title of her work on the achievements of women since the 19th century. This diminutive book, developed from her 2018 Richard Dimbleby Lectures, appearing flyweight at less than A5 size and only Read More

Above the Waterfall

Originally published in the US in 2015, Above the Waterfall is the sixth of seven novels by award-winning American novelist, poet and short-story writer, Ron Rash.  Born in South Carolina, where he now lives, Rash grew up in North Carolina. He teaches fiction writing at Western Carolina University where he holds the John Parris Chair Read More

THE VALLEY AT THE CENTRE OF THE WORLD

This debut novel from Malachy Tallack follows the old adage, ‘Write about what you know’. Raised in Shetland, and author of two previous non-fiction books about the island, Tallack is uniquely positioned to tell the story of life in a remote Shetland valley. The narrative, told from several points of view, follows the intertwining lives Read More

How Not To Be A Boy

“It remains a sexist world and I can’t change it for my daughters the way I would like to. But I can try and improve the situation one man at a time. Starting with me.” Robert Webb has chosen to bare his soul with this autobiographical debut. He doesn’t just want to tell people where Read More

STAY WITH ME (SHORTLISTED, 2017 BAILEYS WOMEN’S PRIZE)

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

Telling Tales

Tabard Inn to Canterbury Cathedral, poet pilgrims competing for free picks, Chaucer Tales, track by track, here’s the remix [.] What does the word re-mix mean to you? Personally, I always associated re-mixes with music, taking an old song, lay it over a new beat, reharmonize the melody and BAM! Simple. But did you know Read More