Ali Bacon is a graduate of the University of St Andrews and worked as a librarian at the Bodleian in Oxford. Her first novel, Kettle of Fish, was published by Thornberry in 2012. In the Blink of an Eye is set in Victorian Edinburgh and charts the fortunes of two pioneering photographers, Robert Adamson and Read More
Imogen Hermes Gower’s debut novel, The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock, is a beautifully written slice of Georgian life that depicts the fortunes of a widower merchant, an ambitious courtesan, and a mermaid. Gower’s London is intricate and robust; she uses her background in archaeology and anthropology to breathe life into the city through the smallest Read More
“They all want the Germans gone, just like you do. But don’t be thinking that makes you welcome”. Set in the Ukraine in 1941, one of the darkest periods of that country’s history, Seiffert’s story is told in language which seems, in a remarkable way, to echo the rhythms of the native language of her Read More
“The day before the murder, George Bull tried to poison me with a cheese sandwich.” With this hook, Maria Donovan opens her debut novel, The Chicken Soup Murder. The narrator is eleven-year-old Michael Davies, battling lactose intolerance alongside the perplexities of impending adolescence in a small coastal town in Dorset. Michael lives with his Nan Read More
Sara Baume’s second novel, A Line Made by Walking, was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize in 2017. The nomination acknowledges its distinctiveness, for this prize celebrates writing which extends the boundaries of the novel form. Following on from her highly acclaimed debut, Spill, Simmer, Falter, Wither, which won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and was Read More
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
“Do not lose hold of the name Hildegard Wolf,” warns narrator and renowned author Muriel Spark as she twists legend into a tale of stolen and recreated identities. With these words, Spark adeptly begins to deconstruct the relationship between detective and criminal in conventional murder mysteries. With its cast of unorthodox characters, Aiding and Abetting Read More
Annabel was entirely aware of the image-making process in every phase. She did not expect this personal image to last long in the public mind, for she intended to play other parts than that of the suppressed tiger, now that she was becoming an established star. Muriel Spark’s The Public Image was shortlisted for Read More
As the centenary of Dame Muriel Spark’s birth approaches, we begin to revisit the wonderful work of one of Scotland’s finest writers. Muriel Spark 100, a year-long literary programme of events, will be taking place throughout the UK, in celebration of Spark’s life and revered writing. To mark the occasion, Polygon recently republished her twenty-two Read More
“Shadowed by her shadow she walks across the carpet.” Elsa Hazeltt’s shadow casts in the wrong direction. She wears secret codes from the Second World War on the bottoms of the shoes she buys on Madison Avenue. She, or her husband, Paul, or both, may or may not be insane. There is a chance that Read More