The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides, is a fabulously twisty thriller that sent chills running down my spine and had me muttering more than one ‘Phwoar!’. Convicted of the murder of her photographer husband, famous painter Alicia Berenson spends her days locked up in a high security psychiatric hospital. Nobody knows why she killed her […]
book reviews
Review: The Revolution of Man, by Phil Barker
One woman is killed every week in Australia by her current or former partner. Every day in Australia six men are killed, by themselves. The number of men who die by suicide each year is double the national road toll. I say this not to try to convince you that male suicide is a more […]
Review: The Flying Orchestra, by Clare McFadden
“Mum, how do you give a book a ‘like’?” “A ‘like’?” I asked my 6-year-old son. “Yeah, a ‘like’. Like for videos on YouTube. So other people know it’s really good. ‘Cause this book’s really good and I want to tell everyone.” Mr 6 waved The Flying Orchestra, by Clare McFadden at me. He loves this book. […]
Review: The Girls at 17 Swann Street, by Yara Zgheib
The Girls at 17 Swann Street, by Yara Zgheib is a heart-wrenching novel about Anna Roux who has been booked into 17 Swann Street by her desperate husband. 17 Swann Street is a residential treatment facility for patients with severe eating disorders. She is quickly diagnosed with life-threatening anorexia nervosa and her dangerous and difficult […]
Review: The Familiars, by Stacey Halls
The Familiars is an excellent example of writers filling the gaps in history with imagination. The historical record shows that, in 1612, ten witches were put to death in Pendle, England following a trial. Each of them had a ‘familiar’, a sort of demon animal (traditionally a black cat) which does the bidding of the […]
Review: The Wall, by John Lanchester
In The Wall, John Lanchester has channelled modern society’s xenophobia and failure to act on climate change into a massive concrete structure surrounding a very different England. In the United Kingdom of the future, Brexit is the least of their worries. To keep out the rest of the world – ‘the Others’ – and the […]