The blurb on this one reads “what if you had the chance to live your life again and again, until you finally got it right?” Reincarnation into the same time, place and family is an odd concept, but dealt with so matter-of-factly by Atkinson that it never seems unbelievable. Such a great read. So very English. […]
Latest Reviews
Private Life by Jane Smiley
This beautiful book is about women who dedicate their lives to men who are not quite worthy of them. So good, you will be pressing it on others.
A Confederacy Of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Can a novel published in 1980 count as a classic? I say yes, when it’s a good as this one. Hilarious and unforgettable.
The Perfect Girl by Gilly Macmillan
While not as good as Macmillan’s What She Knew, this one is still a good read. Macmillan is awesome at intertwining personalities and perspectives and her characters always feel real. The Perfect Girl tells the story of Maisey, a 17 year old pianist still recovering from the guilt of having killed three young people in a car crash […]
Our Kind Of Cruelty by Araminta Hall
It’s pretty disturbing to be inside the head of Mike, who can’t let go of his love/obsession with Verity. Even though she’s about to marry another man, he thinks it’s all part of an elaborate game they play. Mike is an original character, a psychopath but not entirely evil. This book is a notch above […]
The True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey
This is the only book of Peter Carey’s I’ve ever actually liked. He’s one of those writers you know you’re supposed to admire but I just don’t quite get most of his books. But this one is a winner. Written phonetically and often hilariously from the perspective of Ned Kelly, it’s as much about police […]
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale
This one’s a ripper read, as compelling as any thriller. It relates to the brutal killing of a three year old boy in 1860. The crime is pure Agatha Christie; a house in the country full of unhappy, oppressed people, a shocking crime, a clever detective. But it’s also real, and Summerscale brings it vividly […]
The Tall Man by Chloe Hooper
This vastly underrated true crime novel concerns the 2004 death in custody of Cameroon Doomadgee, an Aboriginal man who was arrested on Palm Island for a swearing at a police officer. Hooper is an outsider: she’s not a local of Palm Island, nor is she close to the police, but she responds to what she […]