A Simple Scale switches between three different time periods, weaving through the 1930s, the 1950s and into the twenty-first-century to produce something quite unsettling – a story of musical intrigue and sexual transgression, simmering beneath a veneer of secrecy and silence. Continue reading
Book Reviews
Book Review: Arcadia by Iain Pears
Arcadia is full of stories overlapping stories until you don’t quite know which story is real. It begins with Anterworld, a fictional universe imagined into being by Professor Lytten, an old friend of the late Tolkein. It soon transpires, however, that there is much more going on than the telling of a story. Anterworld is a very simple world in which the storyteller is revered and celebrated, where knowledge is precious and everything refers back to ‘The Story’ – a set of written texts which scholars study and memorise, in order to understand them and preserve them for future generations. Continue reading
Book Review: Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver is an uncomfortable read at times. It is a book which prises apart the building blocks of modern life – financial security, capitalism, family life – all based around the metaphor of a house that is falling down (both in the present and the past). It is exactly what you’d expect of Barbara Kingsolver, but it is also surprising and ambitious in scope, told through the voices of two characters living in Vineland, with over a century between them. Continue reading
Poetry Review: Ocean Vuong and Claudia Rankine
I found both Ocean Vuong’s collection Night Sky with Exit Wounds and Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric to be equally intense and unsettling, though written in completely different styles. As part of my MA in Creative Writing, I get to study a variety of poetry collections which don’t seem, on the surface, to have much in common. But through our seminar discussions we often find links and patterns, connections and contrasts that you wouldn’t see unless you spent so much time honing in on the craft of writing, searching for the logic behind the art.
Book Review: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Spinning Silver is a beautiful and complex story inspired by the fairy tale of Rumpelstiltskin. It begins in a very ordinary way, told from the perspective of Miryem, a young Jewish girl whose father is a moneylender. He is so bad at lending money that he never presses for repayment, and consequently the whole family live in poverty. The winters are lasting longer and growing colder, the villagers are fearful of the Staryk who haunt their woods, and Miryem’s mother is becoming sick. One day Miryem decides to go out and demand payment herself, on her father’s behalf, little knowing where this simple act of courage will lead her. Continue reading
Book Review: The Turn of Midnight by Minette Walters
The Turn of Midnight is an epic tale based around the precarious struggle for control in the wake of the Black Death in 1348. It follows on directly from the end of The Last Hours, in which Lady Anne of Develish had quarantined her people to protect them from the disease. It seems that, outside of Develish, very few have survived, and those who are left soon begin to realise that the world around them has changed beyond all recognition. Continue reading
Book Review: The Plankton Collector by Cath Barton
The Plankton Collector is told in the comforting voice of a storyteller, rather like a bed time story, and it is short enough to be read in one sitting. The plot is based around the struggles of one small family as they attempt to keep going in the face of intense grief. One by one, each family member is visited by a mysterious figure – the Plankton Collector. He does very little, and says very little, but gradually, over time, his visits begin to help, and their wounds begin to heal… Continue reading
Book Review: Tirzah and the Prince of Crows by Deborah Kay Davies
Set in the South Wales Valleys, in the 1970s, Tirzah and the Prince of Crows follows the story of a sixteen-year-old girl as she grows into adulthood. Tirzah has been brought up in a very strict, chapel-going family, but she soon begins to sense a change within herself, and an unsettling desire for freedom. Continue reading
Poetry Review: Pamper Me to Hell and Back by Hera Lindsay Bird
Pamper Me to Hell and Back is full of confessional, provocative and occasionally explicit poems, written in a conversational style with a bleak outlook on life. This is Hera Lindsay Bird’s second collection, and its sardonic tone reminded me of Sylvia Plath, with an undercurrent of Victoria Wood. Many of the poems are surreal, whilst some feel more like Facebook posts, and others seem designed to be performed as spoken word. Continue reading
Poetry Review: Blackbird, Bye Bye by Moniza Alvi
Blackbird, Bye Bye is centred around the theme of birds – the age-old symbol of grief and love. Some of the poems are so abstract that they feel almost entirely like creatures from another universe, while others feel more solid, earthed as they are in the physicality of trees, family, or culture. There is a lightness of touch, so that as a reader you sense a kind of ‘lift off’ from the first page, moving swiftly across oceans and lifetimes towards the final landing point. Continue reading
Book Review: My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
A Guest Post written by Mary Le Bon
My Name is Lucy Barton is a beautiful book which tenderly describes the relationship between a young mother and her own mother whom she hasn’t seen for many years. The narrator is in hospital for a period of weeks and her mother arrives unexpectedly and sits at the foot of her bed for five long days, catnapping but steadfastly refusing the offer of a bed. The stilted and very realistic conversation between the two reveals Lucy’s impoverished and, at times, traumatic childhood as they share snippets of memories about people they have known and what has happened to them. Continue reading
Book Review: Driving Home Both Ways by Dylan Moore
Driving Home Both Ways is a detailed account of the author’s travels over a period of thirteen years, from the moment he set off from Brecon to Cardiff as a teenager. Exploring themes of identity, nationhood and community, he continually refers back to his Welsh roots, recounting trips to destinations across the globe – from the Basque Country to Slovenia, from Mexico to San Francisco… exploring some unique places along the way. Continue reading
Book Review: Captcha Thief by Rosie Claverton
I heard Rosie Claverton speaking about mental health in crime fiction at a recent literary festival, and was intrigued by her protagonist Amy Lane, who suffers from agoraphobia. I ended up reading Captcha Thief, which is actually the third book in this series, but it didn’t matter that I hadn’t read the first two – I was hooked from the very first page. Continue reading
Poetry Review: Fourth Person Singular by Nuar Alsadir
Fourth Person Singular begins with the intriguing line: “The door to my interior was propped open and a fly buzzed in.” This sets the scene for a poetry collection which experiments with form in unexpected ways, using metaphor and analysis to explore the notion of self-hood and internal thought. I was not surprised to discover that Nuar Alsadir is a psychoanalyst. This innocuous little book is challenging, provocative and beguiling in equal measure, though I am still not quite sure entirely what to make of it.
Cornish Short Stories: A Collection of Contemporary Cornish Writing
Short stories can be difficult to contend with – their brevity creates a sense of unease. They can never fully reveal the whole story. Instead, they provide something unique and captivating – a glimpse into a parallel universe where anything can happen, and the best short stories are those which pull you into their world for a few marvellous pages, seducing you into a false sense of security, then abruptly leaving you to your own wistful thoughts, as you mull over what you’ve just read, often wishing for more. Continue reading
Poetry Review: Visiting the Minotaur by Claire Williamson
Visiting the Minotaur plunges you straight into the myth in ‘Swimming with the Bull’, a dramatic encounter across ‘three-and-a-half-thousand years’. This sets the tone for the collection as a whole, exploring the surreal nature of family relationships and crossing the boundaries of time and space, as humans and monsters find their roles reversed. The cover image (a painting by Matthew Grabelsky) is both startling and ordinary – the perfect depiction of what lies between the covers. Continue reading
Book Review: The Last Hours by Minette Walters
Crime fiction writer Minette Walters has branched out into the realms of historical fiction with her new novel The Last Hours. Set in the summer of 1348, it provides a fascinating glimpse into what life was like for the ordinary folk of Dorset when faced with the horror of the Black Death. Lady Anne of Develish decides to quarantine the demesne, bringing her serfs inside the walls to keep them safe from contamination. But the people soon become restless, as fear of starvation begins to counteract the fear of disease. Continue reading
Book Review: The Unlikely Heroics of Sam Holloway by Rhys Thomas
The Unlikely Heroics of Sam Holloway is a rather unusual book, based around the seemingly ordinary exploits of Sam Holloway – a young man who dresses up as a superhero at night. It’s a beautifully written, heartfelt story, which is both hilarious and tragic at the same time. We gradually delve deeper into Sam Holloway’s world, and begin to understand the circumstances which have led him to lead this double life – an incredible weight of sorrow with which he has learned to live. Continue reading