Reviewed by Ian Lipke It doesn’t happen often, but just occasionally, with no warning whatsoever, along comes a book in an unprepossessing cover, that just glows with quality. It does not dazzle; it begins in a very ordinary way but, within a few pages, you know you will not put it down until the very
Reviewed by Norrie Sanders Anyone who spends a year doing something then writes a book about it, risks being placed in the same genre as British expats who move to Provence or Tuscany and regale us with tales of French plumbers and Italian cooking classes. Despite some initial trepidation about My Year of Living Mindfully,
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve What a pleasure to review Rudie Nudie Christmas, a charming book for toddlers which captures the excitement of the night before December the 25th. It beautifully depicts how the preparations for the visit by Santa can make a routine like bath time a long drawn out activity. Links are made to
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Writing with the restraint of the professional academic but with all the vim of a youthful enthusiast, R. F. Foster has published On Seamus Heaney, his take on the life and writings of one of Ireland’s famous poets. A deep knowledge of Irish literature and the Irish people and their history
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve The multi-talented Anh Do has introduced a new series of books with the alluring title Sky Dragon. It follows the success of his Wolf Girl and Mythix. Sky Dragon tells of an eight-year-old girl, Amber Autumn, who suffers the loss of her family, her home destroyed and being scarred by the
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Hollowpox is the third in the six to nine books planned around the adventures of Morrigan Crow, written by Jessica Townsend. Each book addresses new adventures for Morrigan as she is accepted into the Wundrous Society, in Nevermoor. Only those with a special skill are taken. The first book, Nevermoor:
Reviewed by Ian Lipke The story of Katheryn Howard is the fifth in the Six Tudor Queens series that Alison Weir seems to turn out so effortlessly. While the contents of the books are fiction, they are so carefully researched as to persuade the reader that the events are factual and the characters true revelations
Reviewed by Ian Lipke This is Matthew Reilly’s sixteenth book and the sixth in the Jack West Jr series. Fans of the author will not be disappointed with Reilly’s latest volume. It is an unashamed action thriller, designed to stir the blood of the most anaemic of readers while supplying the most hot-blooded of action
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve Like a fine wine, Chris Hammer’s writing of thrillers seems to improve with age. His first two novels, ‘Scrublands’ and ‘Silver’ were very good and he was welcomed as a talented and significant crime writer. ‘Trust’, his most recent novel, is an excellent addition to his work. Once more, Martin Scarsden,
Reviewed by Rod McLary Marilynne Robinson is reputed to be one of America’s finest contemporary writers – a reputation with which I would wholeheartedly agree. Jack – her most recent novel – is a prequel of sorts to her series of novels comprising Gilead, Home and Lila. The story is set just after World War
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve Mantel Pieces is a selection of twenty essays and reviews which Hilary Mantel has written since her earliest experience with the London Review of Books late last century. The first review focuses on Shere Hite’s “American Marriage”. The value of Hite’s research into her subject is clouded by the widely held
Reviewed by Ian Lipke I wonder if Kathleen Jennings, growing to adulthood among the scrublands of rural Australia ever wondered, as a child, what influence her environment was having on her. Her novella breathes the atmosphere of the bush. Just as she describes, I have felt its call, heard the birds waking at dawn and
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve After the success of The Land Before Avocado, Richard Glover has brought us another treat to relish. This is a hilarious series of letters by Clancy, a clever Kelpie, to his previous home and reviewed by his new owner, Man. He is an asset to any family, the perfect pet (he
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve The world which marvelled at the prodigious talent of Clive James last year mourned his death. He was eighty. He was a brilliant author, poet, essayist, critic and television presenter. His final gift to the world is his selection of eighty poems, one for each of the years he lived. Many
Reviewed by Rod McLary Sam Watson is fourteen years old and very troubled. From a young age, he always felt most comfortable and most in tune with his real self when he dressed in his mother’s clothes. In his first year of school, Sam ‘took a pleated skirt out of the lost property box and