Archives by Tag 'England'
Review: ‘The Return of the Soldier’ by Rebecca West
Title: Author: Rebecca West Published: Virago, 1984, pp. 188. Originally published 1918 Genre: Fiction Blurb: When the soldier returns from the front, he returns to three women who love him. His wife, Kitty, with her cold, moonlight beauty, and his devoted cousin Jenny wait in their exquisite home on the crest of the Harrow-weald. Margaret [...]
Review: ‘The Sign of Four’ by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Title: Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Published: Headline Review, 2006, pp. 146. Original publication 1890. Genre: Classic mystery fiction Blurb: As the seamy streets of London drown in a sea of smog, Sherlock Holmes sinks into a drug-induced stupour. That is, until Miss Mary Morstan presents him with a most intriguing case. A terrible death, [...]
Review: ‘A Study in Scarlet’ by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Title: Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Published: Headline Review, 2006, pp. 164 Genre: Classic mystery fiction Blurb: Arriving in the wilderness of London and in need of lodgings, Dr John Watson finds himself living at 221b Baker Street with one Sherlock Holmes. When a corpse is discovered in a derelict house Watson, fascinated by his [...]
Review: ‘The Woman in White’ by Wilkie Collins
Title: The Woman in White Author: Wilkie Collins Published: Penguin,1974, pp. 648 Genre: Classic mystery fiction Blurb: Wilkie Collins’ sixth novel took the fashionable world by storm on its appearance in 1860 when everything from dances to dresses was named after the ‘woman in white’. Its continuing power to fascinate stems in part from a distinctive [...]
Review: ‘Mary Anne’ by Daphne du Maurier
Title: Mary Anne Author: Daphne du Maurier Published: Pan, 1979, pp. 381 Genre: Historical fiction Blurb: In the glittering, corrupt world of Regency London, Mary Anne Clarke had beauty, brains and wit — but no money. Spurred on by the demands of a drunken husband, a wastrel brother and four children, she chose an exacting [...]
Review: ‘Crash’ by J. G. Ballard
Title: Crash Author: J. G. Ballard Published: Vintage, 2004, pp. 224 Genre: General fiction Blurb: In this hallucinatory novel, the car provides the hellish tableau in which Vaughan, a ‘TV scientist’, experiments with erotic attrocities among crash victims, each more sinister than the last. Ultimately, he craves a union of blood, semen and engine coolant [...]
Review: ‘The Thirteenth Tale’ by Diane Setterfield
Title: The Thirteenth Tale Author: Diane Setterfield Published: Orion, 2007, pp. 470 Genre: Historical gothic mystery Blurb: Angelfield House stands abandoned and forgotten. It was once the imposing home of the March family – fascinating, manipulative Isabelle, Charlie, her brutal and dangerous brother, and the wild, untamed twins, Emmeline and Adeline. But Angelfield House conceals [...]
Review: ‘The Last Witchfinder’ by James Morrow
Title: The Last Witchfinder Author: James Morrow Published: Phoenix, 2006, pp. 573 Genre: Historical fiction Blurb:In the spring of 1688, Walter Stearne, Witchfinder-General for Mercia and East Anglia, roams the countryside in search of heretics. His daughter Jennet is left behind in the care of her Aunt Isobel, who schools her in the New Philosophy [...]
Review: ‘Sophia Scrooby Preserved’ by Martha Bacon
Title: Sophia Scrooby Preserved Author: Martha Bacon Published: Puffin Books, 1971, pp. 220 Genre: Children’s historical fiction Blurb: ‘My little panther’, Nono’s father called her, but he didn’t get the chance to say it for long. Her African village was destroyed and she first lived in the bush then was sold as a slave, given [...]
Review: ‘The Little Stranger’ by Sarah Waters
Title: The Little Stranger Author: Sarah Waters Published:Virago, 2010, pp. 501 Genre: Historical gothic fiction Blurb: In a dusty post-war summer in rural Warwickshire, a doctor is called to a patient at lonely Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over two centuries, the Georgian house, once grand and handsome, is now in decline, [...]