#BookReviewGift: Three Sisters of Stone by Stephanie Hutton

Before this year I’d not heard of the concept of novella in flash so this was the first one I’d read. I know Stephanie via Twitter where she often links to her other excellent flash fiction pieces and shares her time and comments generously on other people’s writing. For the uninitiated, a novella in flash… Continue reading #BookReviewGift: Three Sisters of Stone by Stephanie Hutton

A childhood in books

As promised, I wanted to write about a childhood in books with a few featured. I have also decided to commit to blogging and reviewing every day in December and tagging authors to give them a boost about how much we appreciate them. (You can find out more about this here on Twitter – do… Continue reading A childhood in books

Review: How We Remember by JM Monaco

Today I’m hosting the blog tour for JM Monaco’s how We Remember, a debut novel of dark family secrets and their after effects. Jo O’Brien, Irish-American professor of Art History living and working in London, returns home after her mother’s death and, in the process of clearing out her mother’s diary and papers, is reminded… Continue reading Review: How We Remember by JM Monaco

Review: Take Nothing With You by Patrick Gale

A new Patrick Gale is always something to celebrate but in recent years his books seem to have taken on an extra quality. I do feel he’s one of the country’s best writers – portraying empathy, love and the human experience with deftness, wit and a sure touch. We must celebrate him more. Perhaps a… Continue reading Review: Take Nothing With You by Patrick Gale

Review: The Lost Letters of William Woolf by Helen Cullen

What a lovely premise this book has. As soon as I heard it, I wanted to read it. William Woolf works for the Royal Mail at the Dead Letters Depot. Woolf is a Letter Detective,  sorting through all the letters that never get delivered. He tries to deliver or return them, seeking out the stories… Continue reading Review: The Lost Letters of William Woolf by Helen Cullen

Twenty Four Stories

Five or six years ago I walked through Nottingham’s Old Market Square. It was near Christmas, dark overhead but the Christmas market was in full swing, including the annual ice rink. The scene gave me a ‘what if?’ moment and I turned it into a story. I wrote and edited and wrote and tinkered, made… Continue reading Twenty Four Stories

Review: The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

Sebastian Bell wakes in a wood, yells “Anna!” and swears he saw a woman shot before his eyes. Waiting, chasing, he hears a stranger approach behind him, slip a compass in his pocket and say “east.” Bell, who can remember nothing of his life before this moment, finds himself in Blackheath, a house isolated in… Continue reading Review: The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

Review: We Own the Sky by Luke Allnutt

Warning. This is a dreadfully sad book. Unless you have a void where your heart should be, you will need tissues and possibly, some consoling biscuits. On the face of it, it’s a bog standard boy meets girl story. Rob meets Anna at university where she is wowing people with her accountancy skills and he… Continue reading Review: We Own the Sky by Luke Allnutt

Review: Turning for Home by Barney Norris

This is a slow read. And, for anyone reading advice about writing books that show and don’t tell, it breaks all the rules. Told in the first person by two alternating points of view, Robert and his granddaughter Kate, Turning for Home is nonetheless a fascinating account of the interior world. So what’s it about?… Continue reading Review: Turning for Home by Barney Norris