Living in northern California, close to San Francisco, I seldom have reason to ever really consider what life in Los Angeles must be like. In the last ten years, beyond the amusement parks that litter the LA suburbs, I’ve never had reason or need to visit. As a backpacking European in the 1990s, a friend […]
Full disclosure with this one, I know Heidi Perks. We don’t know each other well, but for the last twenty-five years or so we have shared a very dear friend, Mrs D. This means we’ve been to parties, hen nights, that kind of thing together. I still hear about her whenever I go home, so […]
There are some books that you simply live as you read, part wishing that this life could be yours. Paris By The Book by Liam Callanan is one of them. Callanan tells the story of Leah, a mother of two girls, living in Milwaukee and married to novelist, Robert Eady. Robert has a good deal […]
If you know me at all, you will understand that I am not one of life’s happy campers. I can appreciate the beauty of the great outdoors without experiencing any desire at all to sleep in it. My back is designed to carry a simple day pack, not a tent or a stove. I value […]
I don’t know quite where I am with The Confusion of Languages by Siobhan Fallon. It’s not the book I thought it was, but it’s none the worse for it, it’s just that I’m surprised. I don’t normally pick up books about the Middle East or indeed books that in anyway relate to the military […]
Many years ago, when Child Number One was very small and I still lived in London, my dear friend Ms S and I used to frequent any number of playgrounds to occupy our children and to fill our days. This was in an era long before the iPhone became ubiquitous, when it was still possible […]
As I read Where the Crawdads Sing, one thought kept going around and around in my mind: what must this novel have done for North Carolina tourism? Honestly, if the The Husband wasn’t such a slave to the office and the kids weren’t constrained by the restrictions of school, I think that I would be […]
I’ve made no qualms of telling you previously how much I enjoy Lisa Jewell and The Third Wife is no exception, but as with The House We Grew Up In, it’s a sad book and one that really makes you ponder the meaning of love, marriage and ultimately forgiveness. Adrian is loved by all, but […]
The Death of Mrs Westaway is my least favorite of Ruth Ware’s novels, but even having said that, it’s still a truly great read. That’s just how good she is. You never need worry about which Ruth Ware novel you choose whether it be The Lying Game; In a Dark, Dark Wood or The Woman […]
If you enjoyed the ‘feel’ of All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda then The Perfect Stranger will most likely appeal. I read these books roughly a year apart and enjoyed both, perhaps preferring the former, but only marginally so. To me, Miranda has such a clear style that they read very similarly, perhaps a […]
Nutshell Book Reviews 