The idea of a story centered around a perverse concept of ageing or death is not in itself new. Certainly in recent years the film industry has shown us Brad Pitt ageing backwards in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Blake Lively frozen in time in the beautiful Age of Adaline. Clare North gave […]
Reach for that box of tissues. You are going to cry. I fully acknowledge that I was late to the party with this book. For what seemed like years, I had seen it in Bookshop Santa Cruz and mentally labeled it ‘another war novel’. I approached The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah, somewhat jaded after the […]
To most of us married folks, open marriages seem like the most fascinating and mythical of beasts. Just as with a unicorn, I wouldn’t want one for myself (imagine the hair everywhere!), but if a friend had one, I would want to know as much as possible. So it was for me, twenty years or […]
As with a silent companion, this book snuck up on me. I finished it two nights ago and have been thinking about it ever since as, just like a Henry James novel, I’m not entirely sure what I just read. Was it a descent into madness, was it a ghost story, a betrayal? What? What […]
Sometimes you read a book and you just aren’t sure why you didn’t enjoy it more. Perhaps other things were going on in your life at the time or maybe you were just too tired. It’s hard to say. Sadly this is where I am with The House Between Tides by Sarah Maine. The more […]
I have a degree in Ancient History. I always feel like a bit of a fraud for mentioning it nowadays, as I’ve never really used it in any constructive way. I find that most people I meet in America are so much wiser and less esoteric in their life choices than the Brits. I chose […]
There are times when we have all toyed with being terrible parents, tempted to do the wrong thing. For most of us however, the angel on our shoulder kicks in, reminding us of our parental obligation and ensuring beyond a shadow of a doubt that our child or children are taken good care of. Not […]
It’s very seldom that I bother to finish a book that I don’t think is any good. I’ve never been a believer in persevering with things you don’t enjoy and I’m not clear why people take an attitude towards books that they wouldn’t take towards a meal or a movie. For example I’ve never known […]
I bought The Daughter right on the back of having read and loved What She Knew. What She Knew, by Gilly Macmillan, had opened my eyes to a genre that I had thought, as a parent, would be impossible to enjoy, namely the missing child story. For years I had steered clear of any such […]
I know what you are thinking, Dear Reader. You are guessing that The Husband purchased this book, having seen the title, in hope of some improvements on the home front! Alas, no, I have no one but myself to thank for this little odyssey. Myself and the marvellous writing of Emma Chapman. How to be […]
Nutshell Book Reviews 