Giving up the Ghost

One of the worst things about long-term illness can be feeling you’re on your own, despite all attempts by well-meaning friends and family to persuade you otherwise. Hilary Mantel understands the isolation only too well, as she shows in Giving up the Ghost. Bodily failure Zoom and social media are, of course, helping; they connect … More Giving up the Ghost

Away with the fairies?

There were times I was uncomfortably aware of the deeper meaning of Cloud Cuckoo Land eluding me as I was reading it, but I eventually managed to work out what was happening. Roughly, anyway. And ironically, last week we ended up having one of our most successful book club discussions in many months about the title, a story that circles around different stories, all of them eulogies to the book. … More Away with the fairies?

Decoding the Strange Adventures of H

By Nell Fowler Orphaned heroine H spends most of this novel fighting to survive life in 17th century London, making a gutsy if slightly unbelievable protagonist as she battles fire, plague, rape, childbirth, heartache, prostitution and evil, thieving relatives with good humour and vim. The engaging H needs all the courage she can muster when … More Decoding the Strange Adventures of H

Demon Copperhead’s many houses offer no real home

Nineteenth century London and modern-day Appalachia don’t sound like they have much in common. After all, there’s two hundred years and several thousand miles between them, with different mores, linguistic idioms and politics only heightening the apparent differences. Yet Demon Copperhead shows how suffocating poverty works pretty much the same wherever it occurs, regardless of … More Demon Copperhead’s many houses offer no real home