Daughter of Bad Times reads less like dystopian fiction and more like future history. The writing style makes it feel like a slightly dramatised reenactment of entirely plausible events. The only kicker is that these particular events haven’t happened – yet. In 2075 the seas have risen and swallowed up tiny island-based nations like the […]
Books
Review: The Farm, by Joanne Ramos
The Farm, by Joanne Ramos, is even more terrifying than The Handmaid’s Tale because it’s not future fiction. It’s entirely plausible that right now, somewhere in the U.S., there is a secret high-end surrogacy facility for the mega-wealthy operating at the same time you’re reading these words. Reagan and Jane are roommates at The Golden […]
Review: Raising Readers – How to nurture a child’s love of books, by Megan Daley
Raising Readers, by Megan Daley, is the book I wish I’d been able to read before I had kids. Not because I need tips on how to interest my boys in books – they’re both voracious readers and my youngest takes books to bed as though they’re teddies – but because it would have helped […]
Review: I Miss You When I Blink, by Mary Laura Philpott
I Miss You When I Blink is basically a couple of dozen hilarious and insightful anecdotes about ‘relatively ordinary life’ all strung together in roughly chronological order. Mary Laura Philpott is your typical high-achieving Type A personality who grew up in the U.S. expecting that if she followed all the rules she would win at […]
Review: The Book of Dreams, by Nina George
Nina George’s incredible new novel, The Book of Dreams, is about the dream world that exists between life and death. 13-year-old Sam sees the world in colours and can sense things most others can’t. He meets his father, Henri, for the first time in hospital. Henri is in a deep coma after being struck by a […]
Review: A Beginner’s Guide to Running, by Lisa Shearon
A Beginner’s Guide to Running is a novel of fabulous contradictions. It’s a light-hearted, hilarious story about the aftermath of domestic violence and bereavement. It’s a sweary, alcohol-fuelled romp about finding yourself in the relentlessness of single parenting. It made me laugh until I couldn’t breathe, cry until my head hurt and indulge in more […]