In her last published novel, The Finishing School, Muriel Spark throws open the doors of College Sunrise, a “mobile” finishing school run by aspiring novelist Rowland Mahler and his wife Nina Parker, near Lausanne in Switzerland. Alongside Nina’s comme il faut etiquette tuition, the young men and women are taught a number of artistic subjects Read More
Histories of the 20th century are numerous and, for those of us interested in understanding the present moment, fascinating. There is a commonplace schoolroom telling of developments, wars and upheaval, but there are also endless personal stories: journeys through the recent past that bring more emotional engagement to their setting, or look directly at events Read More
Pale with a title etched in a sombre serif on the spine, Beast lies waiting for you. The front cover features only the blood-red outline of a man lying on, or perhaps falling through empty space; the back says, in that same copperplate font: “Come to a place like this… and you will understand soon Read More
“Where do we come from? Where are we going?” Walter Kempowski’s final novel is encapsulated in these two questions. They sing an existential refrain throughout the entire text, like the chorus of a song. Faced with an uncertain future, Kempowski’s characters try to cling to fragments of the lives they once knew. A fractured, modernist Read More
This is not a read for the faint-hearted for two main reasons: the ghastly topic, and the sheer length of this melancholy novel. Five-hundred-and-sixty pages long, it tackles the difficult subjects of experimentation on and euthanasia of children in Austria during its annexation by Germany. Based on fact, this story is largely set in Am Read More
Every story begins in mystery. When we first sit down to read, the characters are strangers to us; events are yet to unfold. The weight of the unread pages rests comfortably in our hand: a promise of things to come. Few stories end with as many mysteries as they begin with, and fewer still with Read More
A Google search will inform curious readers that the word ‘’bardo’’ references an old Tibetan legend: souls making the transition from death to Nirvana, or, if they are less fortunate, to begin again in a new body, must first pass through the bardo. Think of it as a stopping station between different states of existence Read More
I feel the need to start this review by making a confession. Since its publication in 2016, Colson Whitehead’s latest novel, The Underground Railroad, has been crowned with some of the most prestigious literary awards: National Book Award for Fiction 2016, The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2017, even, oddly enough, the Arthur C. Clarke Award Read More
“You don’t think things like this happen in woodsy Maine, off the beaten path? It sounds more like L.A.? In Maine, there may be a path, but it’s never clear […]” In The State We’re In: Maine Stories, we are transported to Maine – the coastal state that writer Ann Beattie recognises has the reputation Read More
(This is a lightly edited transcript of the interview; to view the whole interview, please click image above) Cynthia Rogerson: I’m Cynthia Rogerson. I write novels and short stories. I’m from California and live in the Highlands. I’ve been there for a long, long time. Probably almost thirty-five years. Kirsty Gunn: And Cynthia’s here today to Read More