As the burning of the byre dies down it is “[a]s if the black gates of hell have been cast open.” The byre belonged to Barnabas Kane, his wife Eskra and their teenage son Billy, in this powerful, sad and unrelentingly dark novel by Paul Lynch, author of the much lauded Red Sky in Morning. Read More
After the hijacking of the U.S.-flagged sailing vessel Quest in the Indian Ocean in February 2011, Corban Addison “watched the media coverage of the tragedy with a heavy heart and a curious eye”. It was that curiosity which led to his writing of The Tears of Dark Water. However, I must stress here (as the Read More
It is summer 2011 and Adolf Hitler has returned! In Timur Vermes’ latest novel, Look Who’s Back, the notorious dictator finds himself waking up in mysteriously good health in 21st Century Berlin. As he comes to terms with the modern world, Hitler gains a great deal of popularity among the German people, who believe him Read More
Breaking Light is Karin Altenberg’s second novel, following her Orange Prize (2012) nominated debut, Island of Wings. In Breaking Light, we follow Gabriel Askew in two narratives separated by around forty years – that of his life as a child and young adult in Mortford and then as a retired professor returning to his childhood Read More