Swimming Lessons – Claire Fuller
Rating: 5 stars I was hooked from the start by the tremendous opening of Fuller’s novel: “Gil Coleman looked down from the first-floor window of the bookshop and saw his dead [...]
The Good People – Hannah Kent: Lavinia’s Book Pick, June 2018
I recently enjoyed a lovely holiday out in the wilds, and Hannah Kent’s The Good People was the perfect read for the occasion – though I struggle to think of an occasion for which The [...]
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman
Rating: 5 stars This book by Gail Honeyman was the winner of the Costa Book Awards 2017 for a first novel. And what a fine first novel it is. Told in the first [...]
Greatest Hits – Laura Barnett
Rating: 5 stars Greatest Hits is the relative rarity – a second novel which totally lives up to the hopes and expectations brought about by a massively successful first novel – [...]
Reservoir 13 – Jon McGregor
Rating: 4 stars Reservoir 13 isn’t a book that I would have picked up of my own accord. Our local book group chose it for their reading, and so I dived [...]
Birdcage Walk – Helen Dunmore
Rating: 5 stars This is the final offering from the wonderful novelist and poet, Helen Dunmore, who died last June. And what a fine last novel it is. I was gripped [...]
The Stopped Heart – Julie Myerson
Rating: 5 stars When Paula Hawkins said this book was “bloody brilliant” she was absolutely correct. This was one which I couldn’t put down, so long as I was reading it in [...]
Kings and Queens – Terry Tyler
Reviewed by Louise Rating: 4 stars I really enjoyed Terry Tyler’s Kings and Queens. It’s kind of Tudor history fanfiction in conception (it transposes the events of the reign of Henry [...]
The Good Neighbour – Beth Miller
Reviewed by Daisy Rating: 5 stars A huge vote of thanks to Beth Miller’s publishers, Ebury Press, for the timely arrival of this review copy. I’m struggling with slipped discs and [...]