Newest Literary Fiction Reviews
The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
Henry 'The Onion' Shackleford lives as Henrietta (or just plain Onion) until he's 17 due to a misunderstanding that may prove too dangerous for him to correct. The reason is that the person under this misapprehension is the fiercely well-meaning slavery abolitionist (with the emphasis on the 'fiercely') John Brown. As Onion accompanies him on his quest to free every slave they encounter, he discovers that Brown's philanthropy only stretches so far. Meanwhile it's that time of the 19th century when a shadow spreads over America, one that will cause a historic scar almost as great as that of slavery but Brown is oblivious to this. He doesn't; want to start a civil war, just an armed slave revolt. Full review...
The Railwayman's Wife by Ashley Hay
Mackenzie and Anikka Lachlan have all they could possibly want. They live in Thirroul, a close New South Wales coastal community, are parents to a lovely little girl and now, in 1948, Mac has come through the war years unscathed due to his job at home on the railways. However in a single moment all their luck changes and Anikka becomes a widow, another grieving shadow. Alongside her neighbours (a war poet who can't write now he's home and the local GP who experienced hell while not being able to bring anyone back from its grasp) Anikka must learn the most difficult lesson: how to go on living. Full review...
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
The Joy Luck Club was Jing Mei's mother's idea. After arriving in the US from China in 1949 she invited three other Chinese immigrant ladies to join. The four would meet to play Mah Jong and feast on morsels that none of them could really afford. Once played out, they shared stories of the land they'd left. The evenings evolve over time; the food becomes affordable, men join the discussions but the core remains the same. Four Chinese mothers living a new life while sharing moments enjoyed and regretted, discussing their children and parents and telling stories of wisdom, happiness and, sometimes, intense pain. Full review...
Idiopathy by Sam Byers
Katherine no longer seeks or expects to be happy. She's stuck in a place and a job she hates and her relationship with Daniel broke up over a year ago. Since then she's had sexual encounters with a few men but her motivations have been confusing and disturbing - not least to Katherine. She has a vicious wit (actually, calling it wit is perhaps stretching the point a little...) which repels the people she'd like to attract and attracts the people she'd prefer to repel. Daniel is with a new girlfriend (well, there was a slight overlap) but he's not certain that he loves Angelica. He's in a difficult situation: not telling her that he loves her becomes tantamount to telling her that he doesn't love her and as a result he has to tell her that he loves her just to keep on the level. Full review...
Marriage Material by Sathnam Sanghera
On the morning after his father's funeral Arjan Banga was surprised to see his mother opening up the family shop. She was in her sixties, recovering from cancer and besides, Bains Stores wasn't exactly thriving. You could even be forgiven for wondering if it was open, with the advert for a bar of chocolate discontinued in 1994 having pride of place in the window and the security shutter stuck at a quarter open. Much as he might wish otherwise Arjan has no choice but to stay in Wolverhampton to help his mother, leaving his job as a graphic designer and his girlfriend, Freya, in limbo. They were supposed to be getting married in December, but that looked increasingly unlikely. Full review...
Kerrigan in Copenhagen by Thomas E Kennedy
Terrence Einhorn Kerrigan is an Irish-Danish American living in Copenhagen. He is 'a full-time writer and translator', who 'thinks of himself as a failed poet, which is a less complicated concept than a failed human being'. His newest writing assignment, however, is to 'select a sampling of one hundred of the best, the most historic, the most congenial of Copenhagen's 1,525 serving houses and write them up for one of a one-hundred-volume travel guide: The Great Bars of the Western World'. Kerrigan, though, 'does not wish the book to be written. He wants only to research it. Forever' - and preferably in the company of his green-eyed Associate, Annelise. Full review...
Afterworld by Lois Walden
The Duvalier family owe their wealth to sugar cane although their gratitude is shown in varying degrees and various ways. From the patriarch William (who never recovered from being hit by a manhole cover) through his wife and children, down to Theodore, the lad who gained comfort (and a certain amount of secrecy) from travel and on to their black servant Rheta B, each has had a life. Each also has a story to tell and, whether alive or in Afterworld, they're going to tell it. Full review...
Meeting the English by Kate Clanchy
Struan Robertson was just seventeen, but set to go to Aberdeen to study dentistry, when his English teacher passed him a short advertisement. A literary giant needed a carer. Why not take a gap year? Struan had never been to ‘’England’’ before and he would be living in Hampstead. On the plus side he’d been working in a care home to earn money and he could do the work. Soon - almost too soon - Struan was the main carer for Phillip Prys, rendered dumb and paralysed by a massive stroke. His family couldn’t take care of him - the young (very young) third wife was too busy with her painting. His son, Jake, had other things - anything else - to do rather than be in his father’s presence. Juliet had never been her father’s favourite but she wasn’t ‘’exactly’’ stable when it came to helping. Full review...
Ghost Moth by Michele Forbes
Belfast 1949: Katherine is about to become engaged to fireman George Bedford when she meets Tom McKinley. He's bright fun and makes her feel more alive than dependable, boring George ever could. The weight of the decision Katherine eventually makes will haunt her for a lifetime. We fast forward to Belfast 1969 and as the troubles in Northern Ireland exacerbate, as do the cracks in Katherine's marriage. In fact 20 years and four children later, they've become chasms. Full review...
A Sixpenny Song by Jennifer Johnston
Annie's father is dead. She's not particularly upset as it's a decade or so since they've had any contact. Dada (he preferred to be called 'Father') had wanted her to go into the family business, to make money. She'd wanted to go to Trinity College in Dublin to read English Literature, but instead she'd packed a suitcase and left for London, where she still is - working in a bookshop. Her mother died when she was young - Dada had sent the child off to boarding school and did his best to ensure that her mother's name was never referred to again - and it wasn't too long before he remarried. His death brought Annie back to Ireland and she found that the money had been left to wife number two (as he was confident that she would know how to look after it) but the house now belonged to Annie. Full review...
The Currency of Paper by Alex Kovacs
Maximilian Sacheverell Hollingsworth was - as the name might suggest - of aristocratic birth, but had broken off all contact with his family and in consequence found himself labouring for forty hours a week in a printing works in Dagenham. He came upon the idea of planning out his entire life and this he did in the course of a single afternoon whilst enjoying a little illicit sick leave in a pub in Bloomsbury. He would first become a counterfeiter - on a massive scale - and then a sculptor, filmmaker, collector of artefacts, sound artist and mystic. Circumstances would also turn him into a recluse, except on certain well-ordered occasions, most of which would occur - somewhat to his initial surprise - later in his life. Full review...
Books by Charlie Hill
Neurology professor Lauren Furrows witnesses the sudden untimely death of two tourists in a bar while on holiday. Birmingham bookshop owner Richard Anger happens to be in the same bar so together our single holiday makers decide to team up as an investigatory force to be reckoned with. (Well, Lauren teams up for that. Richard's reasons are more physical than intellectual to begin with.) The murders seem to emanate from author Gary Sayles, a legend in his own mind and, apparently, fatal to read. Elsewhere hippy exhibitionists (in an over-18 way) Zeke and Pippa, are planning the art installation to end all art installations and, are determined to make Gary the centrepiece, whether he realises it or not. Full review...
Someone by Alice McDermott
Marie is growing up in 1920s Brooklyn and, although not financially rich she's the secure, cared for child of Irish parents from one of the many waves of immigration which the US has promised to welcome. Marie's friend Pegeen is from Irish/Syrian stock and is dying for romantic love to come her way. Marie's brother Gabe is singled out for Catholic seminary and priesthood. Marie thinks the future is as safe as the loved ones around her but the future is an unknown country and her journey towards it hasn't finished yet. Full review...
The Ice-Cold Heaven by Mirko Bonne
They say that if you fall off a horse you should get back on one right away, but even so… I don't think many people who had only just left their first love – a shopgirl in their village – for their second – exploring the world on sailing cargo ships – would leap to a further voyage having been wrecked and stranded off the coast of South America for well over a week. But Merce here does – he wants to follow his best friend on to a ship called The Endurance and head with Shackleton to the Antarctic. But Merce is only seventeen, and is rejected – causing him to stow away onto one of the world's worst ever journeys. Full review...
The Year of Miracle and Grief by Leonid Borodin
From a space of 25 years, our narrator looks back on what happened when he was 12 years old. Twenty five years that had to elapse, because that was the promise that he made. He is now happy, happy to have kept the secret as he promised Sarma he would, and happier that he can now tell the story: he can tell us of everything that happened in his childhood that year on the shores of the oldest lake in the world, Lake Baikal. Full review...
The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jaaskelainen
Ella Milana is a language and literature supply teacher currently teaching in her hometown of Rabbit Back and dealing with challenging revelations in her life. Ella is unexpectedly invited to join the hugely successful and influential Rabbit Back Literature Society, a group of nine authors who were hand selected and mentored from childhood by Finland’s greatest author (Laura White) to become literary icons in their own right. There weere always intended to be ten members of the society but Laura White has not selected a new member for decades and the appointment of Ella is a massive literary event. The ceremony in honour of Ella’s new membership to the incredibly elite society is unfortunately overshadowed by Laura White’s disappearance at the ceremony itself. Full review...
Speaking of Love by Angela Young
For some people it's impossible to tell another person that they love them and both are damaged. Iris could not tell her daughter, Vivie, that she loved her and Matthew, Vivie's childhood friend, neighbour and would-be lover could not tell her how he felt. For all three the result was years of separation with Vivie feeling that she was fundamentally unloveable and the whole situation was further complicated by Iris's mental disintegration and her treatment removing most of her memories of Vivie's childhood. If that sounds depressing and soul-destroying then I am doing Speaking of Love an injustice because it's also a story of trust, reconciliation and learning to speak about your feelings. Full review...
Call of the Undertow by Linda Cracknell
If you read a lot of books, then the fact of your life is that you are always part-way through at least one of them. You read all of the time. Over breakfast, in the bath, waiting for trains, on trains, between trains. You make a cup of tea in order to have an excuse to sit-and-read for half an hour. But even so, most of your reading is done in stolen moments – often in moments when a nagging voice from the gremlin-centre of your brain is reminding you that you should be doing something else. Full review...
Crow Blue by Adriana Lisboa
Having lost her mother at the age of thirteen, Evangelina embarks on a quest to not only find her biological father, but to delve into the past and discover things about her mother she never knew. Set predominantly in North America and Brazil, this novel explores Vanja's journeys, both physical and emotional, as well as her relationships with key characters, in particular, that of her Mother's ex husband, Fernando. Uprooting herself when barely a teenager, Vanja leaves her home country of Brazil to live with Fernando in Colorado, the only connection she has at her disposal to enable her to trace her roots and biological family. Narrated beautifully in the first person, the reader is propelled into the thoughts and feelings of the young but courageous, determined and, at times, very wise, adolescent girl. Full review...
Close Your Eyes by Ewan Morrison
1981: Emma remembers driving through a blizzard. That is, her mother was driving, she was just a child. She remembers her mother singing. Throughout everything, what she remembers, what everyone remembers, is how her mother sang. Actually, she remembers lots of other things about her mother. Snippets mostly. Then she remembers losing her… being dropped in London at her Dad's, who didn't really seem like the dad she remembered… then the Social taking her away. Full review...
The Commitments by Roddy Doyle
It's the mid to late 1980s, and Outspan, Derek and Ray have just formed a band. The trio is three days old, with 'Ray on the Casio and his little sister's glockenspiel, Outspan on his brother's acoustic guitar, [and] Derek on nothing', as he can't afford a bass. They already feel directionless. They don't mind Depeche Mode, but Derek and Outspan draw the line at The Human League, which is one of Ray's favourite groups. Such musical differences are already darkening the band's conception. There is also a problem with their name: And And And. Ray believes they should have an explanation mark after the second And, as it would 'look deadly on the posters'. Outspan, however, thinks Ray's an idiot, and tells him where to stick his second exclamation mark. But Outspan has a plan. They need to find Jimmy Rabbitte, for when it comes to music, Jimmy knows. Full review...
The Madonna on the Moon by Rolf Bauerdick
Things are certainly strange in the small rural town of Baia Luna; all the stereotypes one would suspect in a newly-Communist mountain village are turned on their head. People vocally feel free to dismiss the Soviet changes and technology, but secretly at the dead of night enter the fields to try and hear the sounds of Sputnik blipping its orbit overhead. Gypsy men willingly get baptised into the ways and religions of their gajo neighbours. The most forceful character is a teenager called Fritz, best friend of narrator Pavel, and son to an ethnic German photographer. Part of Fritz's power seems to rest on him knowing a lot more than others about the village schoolteacher – enough, perhaps, for her to disappear overnight? Full review...
The Color Master by Aimee Bender
Another parade of fascinating, unusual personalities and odd events from the author of Willful Creatures. This time out Aimee introduces us to people like Hans the fake Nazi, young William to whom all people look the same and Janet who decides to spice up her love-life with detrimental results. Among other things we also witness a less-than-altruistic anti-war demonstration and an odd occurrence in an orchard showing how odd an apple-only diet could make us. Full review...
Goat Mountain by David Vann
The eleven-year-old boy, his father, grandfather and Tom, a family friend, were on their annual hunting trip to the family's 640-acre ranch in northern California. Strictly the boy wasn't old enough to hunt but family lore said that this time he would be allowed to kill his first buck. On the way to their camp they spotted a poacher and the boy's father set up his rifle and loaded it - hoping that shooting the bolt would tell the poacher that he'd been spotted. The boy - we never know his name - was allowed to look through the rifle site, but he pulled the trigger. Nothing would ever be the same again. For any of them. Full review...
Over My Dead Body by Hazel McHaffie
The mother of a patient in dire need of a heart, and a pair of lungs, ceases to pray for the survival of her son for the following uncomfortable reason: 'Feels like you're asking for somebody else to die.' Though merely an extra in the main plot of McHaffie's Over My Dead Body, the situation of this mother quite successfully conveys just how complex the ethics of organ donation are. Full review...
The Best Book in the World by Peter Stjernstrom and Rod Bradbury (translator)
Titus Jensen may not have written many great novels for a while (if ever) but his festival readings of others' works are renowned. Why, his rendition of The Diseases of the Swedish Monarchs from Gustavas Vasa to Gustav V has been compared favourably to his offerings from Handbook for Volvo 245. However, one drunken night he and romantic poet Eddie X agree that their fame on the festival circuit would be insignificant by comparison if they could write the best book in the world; a combination of all genres, appealing to all tastes and making all the best seller categories. They start work on it the next day but, rather than collaborate, each wants the lone glory. The race (or should that be battle?) to the publishing date is on! Full review...
Betrayal by Adriaan van Dis
Dutchman Mulder renews his acquaintance with his old friend Donald as he returns to South Africa, a land he knew well in the days of apartheid. Life may have moved on and apartheid ceased but some things have worsened. Have Mulder and Donald made any difference at all? As they recall their shadier youth, they have one more chance to struggle for someone's freedom against all odds and a violent society. Full review...
Her Privates We by Frederic Manning
Ernest Hemingway called Frederic Manning's Her Privates We 'The finest and noblest book of men in war' he had ever read. But Hemingway wasn't a very trustworthy man, so we tend to defer judgement. He is, however, useful for contrast. Hemingway's tales of war (such as A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls) usually involve macho misfits and trite love stories, feats of derring-do and filmic dialogue; all the things, in fact, that have no place in Manning's First World War novel. Why is this? Well, by the time Hemingway started driving a Red Cross ambulance on the Italian front (1918), Manning's service was already over. Nevertheless, unlike the illustrious (and self-mythologising) Hemingway, Manning spent his war deep in the trenches of the Somme, mixing it with the proletarian soldiery. As such, Her Privates We is a brutal novel concerning the 'subterranean, furtive, twilight life' of the average Tommy, a work of startling power, and one that completely eclipses the war novels of the romantic Hemingway. Full review...
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
Ruth finds a 'Hello Kitty' bag washed up on the shore of Whaletown, the small Canadian island that she and her husband Oliver call home. As Ruth opens it and begins reading the diary safely protected inside, she learns about Nao, a teenager in Japan. Through her writing Nao becomes real and the tales of her varied life, struggles at school and fascinating relatives compels Ruth to search for her, or at least to discover her fate. Full review...
