I am very fortunate to have a family filled with readers. We may not live in geographical proximity to each other and our preferences may at times be wildly different, but we are able to hit each other up for a good book recommendation from time to time. My sister-in-law, Dr A, often enjoys a […]
The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper, by Phaedra Patrick, is just the most gorgeous novel. I read it at a time when I really wasn’t happy and when I most profoundly needed an emotional lift. It tells the story of Arthur Pepper a sixty-nine year old man, living in York, England. A widower for nearly […]
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 […]
The Husband knows all too well that the words ‘science fiction’ and ‘fantasy’ are like a like a death knell for me. Nothing fills me with greater dread than stories set in a different world or in the future. Something in me dies a little when asked to make a leap into a story about […]
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 […]
You by Caroline Kepnes is the very definition of creepy. It’s the kind of book that leaves you wanting to give yourself a good scrubbing after you read it. It’s the kind of book that makes you pretty sure you are never giving your children a phone, a computer, access to anything online ever again. […]
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng is both unbelievably good and almost unbearably sad. In looking at the lives of one mixed race family in Ohio in the 1970s, Ng cracks open many of the complexities that still haunt America today, whilst also writing one of the great “family” novels of our era. […]
I picked up Euphoria, by Lily King, for the most superficial of reasons, I really liked the cover. I should know better, for how many books have I loved over the years with the worst covers? However, this time it worked. Often I read books and feel a great sadness when they end. This can […]
I am straight up going to say it. I loved this book. One of the single best things about my job is the summer holiday. Last Friday I had promised my children a bicycle ride, dog walk and other marvelous things, none of which they actually wanted. I was greeted that morning by Child Number […]
Nutshell Book Reviews 