Spanning more than two decades, Half a Cup of Sand and Sky by Nadine Bjursten is a beautiful and sorrowful story that begins with the Iranian revolution in the late 70s, telling the story of Amineh, a remarkable woman and writer [...]
Compelling and compassionate, mysterious and melancholy, Soft & Rage by Myka Silber is an extraordinary set of short stories. Sure-footedly spanning a dazzling array of genres and styles, the collection feels fused together by its beautiful writing, clear-eyed point of view, [...]
In the American rebel's latest tome, autofiction meets grubby LA Noir to create a haunting 80s medley of teen desire and pop culture that goes back to the roots of the Easton Ellis universe. It's been a long time since Easton [...]
Written in 1984, the eighth novel by one of America's premier wordsmiths holds up as a masterpiece of postmodern decay despite the horrible movie version Noah Baumbach has recently released. When you hear that a film version of an 'unfilmable' book [...]
Some years ago, British writer Julie Myerson wrote a book called The Lost Child, an autobiographical account of her struggle with her son, a drug user, who turned her world upside down. Myerson came under fire for oversharing her child's life, [...]
This novel sort of does you in. That could be the whole review, if I did not write reviews for a living. It's like when you are served a cup of coffee and you get tea, and it tastes weird, although [...]
A faux-autobiographical story of a frustrated middle-aged writer and his pending breakdown explores despotism in all its forms. This offering from British novelist Hari Kunzru pulls at the threads of a crumbling world to discover we've been in this special hell [...]
Claire Fuller's disturbing new novel about life on the edge of society, Longlisted for the Women's Prize For Fiction 2021, delivers a new side to the English writer in this pared-back story of destitute siblings finding their way. Fuller has always [...]
In this modern English folk tale of a family's grim legacy, writer Andrew Michael Hurley has created an exquisite nightmare. When one is English, one grows up with the dark past biting at your ankles, a past where fairies and witches [...]
This year's International Booker shortlist is skewed towards stories told by YA protagonists in extreme emotional distress. Dutch poet Marieke Lucas Rijneveld's book, The Discomfort of Evening is perhaps the most disturbing of these, telling the story of Jas, a young [...]