About the Book: When Nell’s father makes a deathbed declaration that hints at a long-held secret, it reignites feelings of isolation that have plagued her for years. Her suspicions about the family’s past only deepen when her mother, Annie, who is losing her memories to dementia, starts making cryptic comments of her own. Thirty-five years … Continue reading Book Review: The Impossible Truths of Love by Hannah Beckerman
Domestic Drama
Book Review: Wild Place by Christian White
About the Book: In the summer of 1989, a local teen goes missing from the idyllic Australian suburb of Camp Hill. As rumours of Satanic rituals swirl, schoolteacher Tom Witter becomes convinced he holds the key to the disappearance. When the police won’t listen, he takes matters into his own hands with the help of … Continue reading Book Review: Wild Place by Christian White
Book Review: The Survivors by Alex Schulman
About the Book: A suspenseful, haunting novel about three brothers and their reckoning with the events of one disputed, disastrous summer. Benjamin sees the shape of his two brothers trying to kill each other. It's no worthy finale, but perhaps it's also no surprise. How else had they expected this to end? Three brothers return … Continue reading Book Review: The Survivors by Alex Schulman
Book Review: Memorial by Bryan Washington
Memorial... About the Book: The debut novel from a rising literary star: a funny, sexy, sensual examination of two young men falling in and out of love. Benson and Mike are two young guys who live together in Houston. Mike is a Japanese-American chef at a Mexican restaurant and Benson's a Black day care teacher, … Continue reading Book Review: Memorial by Bryan Washington
Book Review: One Split Second by Caroline Bond
One Split Second... About the Book: The final goodbye is the hardest... When a car carrying five teenagers home from a party crashes into a brick wall, the consequences are devastating - not just for the young people directly involved, but also for their families, their friends and the wider community. No one escapes unscathed, … Continue reading Book Review: One Split Second by Caroline Bond
Book Review: The Secret Life Of Shirley Sullivan by Lisa Ireland
The Secret Life Of Shirley Sullivan... About the Book: The Secret Life of Shirley Sullivan is a charming, nostalgic and heart-warming story for women of any age – and it all begins when 79-year-old Shirley kidnaps her husband from his nursing home for one final adventure . . . When Shirley Sullivan signs her 83-year-old … Continue reading Book Review: The Secret Life Of Shirley Sullivan by Lisa Ireland
Author Talks: Leah Swann on Inventive explorations of motherhood in fiction
The eagle-featured mother in Angela Carter’s Bluebeard story “The Bloody Chamber” was an electrifying discovery as a student and lives on in me to this day. Back then, I’d read about oppressive mothers, unreliable mothers, fearsome mothers and loving mothers but never a fierce, swashbuckling mother like this one. Early in the story we learn … Continue reading Author Talks: Leah Swann on Inventive explorations of motherhood in fiction
Book Review: The River Home by Hannah Richell
The River Home... About the Book: The river can take you home. But the river can also drag you under... Margot Sorrell didn't want to go home. She had spent all her adult life trying not to look behind. But a text from her sister Lucy brought her back to Somerset. 'I need you.' As … Continue reading Book Review: The River Home by Hannah Richell
Book Review: Elly by Maike Wetzel
Elly (Translated from German by Lyn Marven) About the Book: A missing child is a nightmare for any family. But what happens when they come back? Eleven-year-old Elly is missing. After an extensive police search she is presumed dead, and her family must learn to live with a gaping hole in their lives. Then, four … Continue reading Book Review: Elly by Maike Wetzel
The Classics Eight: Little Women
Little Women AND Good Wives – a reflection in words and images I first read Little Women when I was ten. I was gifted a copy and took it with me to Europe in that same year, carting it everywhere and reading it over and over. I never read it again, but still have that … Continue reading The Classics Eight: Little Women
Theresa Smith Writes 