About the Book: The Booker Prize 2023 Winner The explosive literary sensation: a mother faces a terrible choice as Ireland slides into totalitarianism. On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother-of-four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find the GNSB on her step. Two officers from Ireland’s newly formed secret police are … Continue reading Book Review: Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
Prize Winning Books
The 20/40 Prize 2023: Reviewing the Winners
20/40—a new independent publishing prize for fiction and non-fiction Independent, non-profit publisher Finlay Lloyd has established a new competition to encourage and support writing of the highest quality. In an environment where writers find it increasingly difficult to find an audience, Finlay Lloyd is branching out to offer a publishing opportunity for fiction and non-fiction … Continue reading The 20/40 Prize 2023: Reviewing the Winners
2022 ARA HISTORICAL NOVEL PRIZE – ADULT CATEGORY LONGLIST
It's a been a long while since I posted on anything prize related but this particular prize is one I'm especially fond of. I've also read a few of them and have others on my shelf, so I thought I'd do a quick blast about it. Please excuse the screenshots, I'm time poor this week. … Continue reading 2022 ARA HISTORICAL NOVEL PRIZE – ADULT CATEGORY LONGLIST
Book Review: Water Music by Christine Balint
About the Book: Winner of Viva la Novella IX In eighteenth-century Venice, orphan Lucietta is raised by a fisherman’s family yet supported by a secret benefactor to study music. At 16, she takes up her position at the Derelitti Convent, one of the prestigious musical orphanages for girls, playing the violin in the ensemble and … Continue reading Book Review: Water Music by Christine Balint
The Silence of the Girls and The Women of Troy by Pat Barker
The Silence of the Girls: The greatest war story in literature, retold by our greatest living storyteller on war - in the voice of the forgotten woman who lived through it. Queen Briseis has been stolen from her conquered homeland and given as a concubine to a foreign warrior. The warrior is Achilles: famed hero, … Continue reading The Silence of the Girls and The Women of Troy by Pat Barker
#2021StellaPrize Winner: The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld
I'm thrilled to pass on the news that The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld is this year's Stella Prize winner! If you need a reminder on why I love this novel so much, read my review here. The Bass Rock is published by Penguin Random House Australia.
The winner of the 2020 Booker Prize
Congratulations to Douglas Stuart for his debut novel Shuggie Bain, winner of the 2020 Booker Prize! Shuggie Bain Winner of the 2020 Booker Prize By Douglas Stuart 1981. Glasgow is dying and good families must grift to survive. Agnes Bain has always expected more from life. She dreams of greater things: a house with its … Continue reading The winner of the 2020 Booker Prize
Book Review: The Spill by Imbi Neeme
The Spill… About the Book: Winner of the 2019 Penguin Literary Prize In 1982, a car overturns on a remote West Australian road. Nobody is hurt, but the impact is felt for decades. Nicole and Samantha Cooper both remember the summer day when their mother, Tina, lost control of their car – but not in … Continue reading Book Review: The Spill by Imbi Neeme
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
Book Review: Beastings by Benjamin Myers
Beastings... About the Book: Winner of the Portico Prize for Literature and the Northern Writers' Award A girl and a baby. A priest and a poacher. A savage pursuit through the landscape of a changing rural England. When a teenage girl leaves the workhouse and abducts a child placed in her care, the local priest … Continue reading Book Review: Beastings by Benjamin Myers
Theresa Smith Writes 