We are well and truly into the 2025 Booker Prize season. What better way to recognise the literary quality that this prize highlights than to mention Small Things like These by the masterful short story writer, Claire Keegan. Published in 2021, Small Things like These won the 2022 Orwell Prize, as well as being shortlisted […]
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Walking up the hill through Ambleside, you’ll see the sign you’ve been looking for, Fred’s Bookshop, at the top of the high street. Fred’s covers the whole range; from BookTok influenced trends to the ambitious and erudite looking Fitzcarraldo Editions, I think you’re very likely to find something you like and perhaps even something
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It is perhaps worth mentioning that I started writing this review on the 4th of July, American Independence Day; a day when Americans threw off British control. To some, this was a liberation. But for many, independence was theoretical, and merely marked the start of a long battle for equality and justice: through the Civil
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain; James – Percival Everett Read More »
My Name Is Lucy Barton is Elizabeth Strout’s fifth novel, and the first of the Lucy Barton collection. Published in 2016, it topped the New York Times bestseller list and made the longlist for the Man Booker Prize. It is a story reflecting on childhood trauma and how this shapes the person you become, and
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You can tell from the moment you see Commonwealth Books that it has character: situated next to Boston’s oldest street and opening its doors in 1995, being a second hand bookshop adds to the historic feel. On walking inside you instantly get a sense of relaxation, with the backdrop of jazz. As with all second
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She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan is an epic tale of turning tragedy into power, how the pain of the past can drive a person to greatness, with friendship and unnerving brutality. This is a story of a woman empowered by a fate she claims as her own and how far she would
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The Trees was first published in 2021 and subsequently shortlisted for 2022’s Booker Prize as well as winning the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize that same year. So, depth and humour. Everett’s 22nd novel is set in the modern day during the first Trump administration, in Money, Mississippi. Whilst the outer world is circa 2016-2020, Money,
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Published in 2024, The List of Suspicious Things is the wonderful debut novel from Jennie Godfrey. It’s a story uncovering a mystery, filled with heartwarming characters, but also violence against women; hearing the story through Miv, a teenage girl, allows you to follow the story through innocent yet inquisitive eyes. The story is set
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Fundamentally is Younis’ debut, published in February this year. The work is already attracting a heap of positive attention: Younis has been selected as part of this year’s line-up of debut authors to watch by the Guardian and Fundamentally is currently shortlisted for 2025’s Women’s Prize. A brilliantly sharp and moving work, Fundamentally follows Nadia,
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The Color Purple was first published in 1982 and won critical acclaim with the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction. It was later adapted into a film with the same name in 1985 and 2023 and has been regularly debated due to the themes of violence and domestic abuse, and
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