This Taste For Silence is a stunning collection of stories about silences. From comfortable ones to sinister ones, we’re reminded that among the constant noise it’s the silences that sometimes carry the most meaning. The balance of power in a marriage shifts, with shocking consequences. An elderly woman recounts a chilling childhood memory on the […]
book reviews
Review: Things in Jars, by Jess Kidd
Things is Jars is like a female Sherlock Holmes story. Except Watson is a half-naked ghost – or possibly a drug-induced hallucination – in boxing shorts who has very little to contribute to the investigation. London, 1863. Bridie Devine, the finest female detective of her age, is taking on her toughest case yet. Reeling from […]
Review: Daughter of Bad Times, by Rohan Wilson
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 […]
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 […]