Archives by Tag 'Fiction'
Review: ‘The Age of Innocence’ by Edith Wharton
Title: The Age of Innocence Author: Edith Wharton Published: Virago, 1994, pp. 303 Genre: Modern classic Blurb:In the conformist, closed world of upper-class New York, Newland Archer anticipates his marriage to May Welland, a young girl “who knew nothing and expected everything”. Into this ordered arrangement bursts May’s cousin Ellen, the mysterious and exotic Countess [...]
Review: ‘Elementals’ by A. S. Byatt
Title: Elementals: Stories of Fire and Ice Author: A. S. Byatt Published: Vintage, 1999, pp. 232 Genre: Short stories Blurb: A new volume of stories from A. S. Byatt is always a joy, and this one is rich and rare indeed. In the same distinctive format as The Matisse Stories and The Djinn in the [...]
Review: ‘And Another Thing…’ by Eoin Colfer, in the style of Douglas Adams
My husband-to-be has apparently been bitten by the book-blogging bug, and so I have decided to allow him one guest review, on probation. This may or may not become a regular feature… Title: And Another Thing… Author: Eoin Colfer (in the style of Douglas Adams) Published: Penguin, 2010, pp. 340 Blurb: Arthur Dent led a [...]
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: ‘Murder with Peacocks’ by Donna Andrews
Title: Murder with Peacocks Author: Donna Andrews Published: St Martin’s Paperbacks, 1999, pp. 311 Genre: Contemporary mystery Blurb:So far Meg Langslow’s summer is not going swimmingly. Down in her small Virginia hometown, she’s maid of honor at the nuptials of three loved ones — each of whom has dumped the planning in hercapable hands. One [...]
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, [...]
Review: ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ by Arthur Golden
Title: Memoirs of a Geisha Author: Arthur Golden Published: Vintage, 1998, pp. 434 Genre: Historical Fiction Blurb: This story is a rare and utterly engaging experience. It tells the extraordinary tale of a geisha – summoning up a quarter century, from 1929 to the post-war years of Japan’s dramatic history, and opening a window onto [...]
Review: ‘A Lion Among Men’ by Gregory Maguire
Title: A Lion Among Men Author: Gregory Maguire Published: Headline Review, 2009, pp. 426 Genre: Fantasy Blurb: While civil war looms in Oz, an oracle named Yackles prepares for death. Before her final hour, the Cowardly Lion arrives searching for information about Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. Yackles, who hovered on the sidelines [...]
Review: ‘The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear’ by Walter Moers
Title: The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear – Being the biography of a seagoing bear, with numerous illustrations and excerpts from the ‘Encyclopaedia of the Marvels, Life Forms and Other Phenomena of Zamonia and its Environs’ by Professor Abdullah Nightingale Author: Walter Moers, trans. John Brownjohn Published: Vintage, 2001, pp. 704 Genre: Fantasy Blurb: [...]