My thanks to Parthian Books for a review copy of this book via NetGalley. Sugar and Slate, originally published in 2002, and now being republished by Parthian Books is academic and author Charlotte Williams’ memoir exploring her search for identity, belonging and home. Born to a White, Welsh mother, and Black Guyanese father, her mixed…
Book Review: Death of a Bookseller (1956) by Bernard J. Farmer #ReadIndies
My thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for a review copy of this book via NetGalley. Taking us into the rather ruthless world of book collectors, runners, sellers and prized first editions, Death of a Bookseller by Bernard J. Farmer, first published in 1956 is being republished as a British Library Crime Classic, after decades of…
Book Review: Abyss by Pilar Quintana and translated by Lisa Dillman
My thanks to World Editions for a review copy of this book via NetGalley Abyss is a story of family, of marriage, adultery, estrangement and depression all told through the eyes of an eight-year-old child (like a Goodreads friend and fellow reviewer, I too was thing of What Masie Knew). Written in Spanish by Columbian…
Book Review: Dickens and Travel: The Start of Modern Travel Writing by Lucinda Hawksley
My thanks to Pen & Sword for a review copy of this book via NetGalley. Perhaps the most famous of Victorian writers, Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812–1870) was known for not only for the novels he wrote but also for the many wonderful, whimsical, inimitable and memorable characters he created, the love for Christmas he…
Book Review: The Battle Cry of the Siamese Kitten (2022) by Philipp Schott
My thanks to ECW Press for a review copy of this book via NetGalley. The Battle Cry of the Siamese Kitten (2022) is the third volume of memoirs/anecdotes by German-born, Canadian veterinary doctor and writer, Dr Philipp Schott (I have previously read and reviewed the second volume, How to Examine a Wolverine, as well…
Book Review: Brouhaha by Ardal O’Hanlon
My thanks to Harper Collins UK for a review copy of this book via NetGalley. Long long ago, I used to watch (not regularly, but sometimes) the BBC comedy My Hero, about an alien superhero, Thermoman who lives on earth and is married to a nurse, Janet; when I noticed this book on NetGalley, it…
Book Review: Saha by Cho Nam-Joo and translated by Jamie Chang
My thanks to Simon and Schuster, UK for a review copy of this book via NetGalley. Having read the powerful and hard-hitting Kim Ji-Young, Born 1982 by author Cho Nam-Joo, when I found another of her works had been translated, of course, I had to read it. Saha (first published in 2019, and in translation…
Book Review: Murder at St Saviour’s by Merryn Allingham
My thanks to Bookouture for a review copy of this book via NetGalley. Murder at St Saviour’s is the fifth entry in the Flora Steele series of historical cosy mysteries by author Merryn Allingham. Set in Abbeymead, a small (fictional) Sussex village in the 1950s, the series follows Flora Steele, a twenty-five-year-old woman who runs…
Book Review: The Cat Who Caught a Killer by L. T. Shearer
My thanks to Pan Macmillan for a review copy of this book via NetGalley. The Cat Who Caught a Killer is a delightful, heart-warming and fun murder mystery (yes, I realise heart-warming and murder mystery don’t ordinarily go together) which just happens to feature not just a cat but a talking cat (and one who…
Book Review: Chaos at Carnegie Hall by Kelly Oliver
My thanks to Boldwood Books for a widget of this book via NetGalley. Chaos at Carnegie Hall is a comic, cosy historical mystery–thriller which (something I hadn’t realised when I chose to read the book) either continues from author Kelly Oliver’s series featuring Fiona Figg or is perhaps an additional set introducing a new character.…