There’s something about historical fiction set on islands that I just can’t seem to get enough of. The Guernsey Potato and Literary Society and The Light Between Oceans are two wonderfully isolated stories. Author Sara Sheridan has brought us another – this time on an island of ice. The Ice Maiden, by Sara Sheridan, is […]
speculative fiction
Review: Our Life in the Forest, by Marie Darrieussecq
Our Life in the Forest, by Marie Darrieussecq, is an experimental future dystopian novel for those who loved The End We Start From. A future where the lucky ones have a ‘half’, an identical body lying in storage from which they can harvest spare body parts as needed. Less fortunate humans have a ‘jar’, just […]
Review: Xx, by Angela Chadwick
Xx, by Angela Chadwick, has been described as a feminist dystopia. It’s not, really. It’s just our current society plus a new medical advancement. Although I can see how watching the ugly machinations of a discriminatory media frenzy unfold could be interpreted as dystopian fiction. Those of us who lived through the 2017 same sex […]
Review: The 7.5 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, by Stuart Turton
The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, by Stuart Turton, absolutely blew my mind. It reminded me of a rather elaborate – and involuntary – how to host a murder party. Aiden Bishop wakes up in the middle of a dark forest and hears the sounds of a murder close by. Escaping the apparent murderer, he […]
Book review: Strangers With The Same Dream, by Alison Pick
Strangers with the Same Dream, by Alison Pick, is the story of a group of Jewish idealists struggling to found a kibbutz in harsh conditions in 1920s Palestine. Alison Pick writes with masterful skill and captures the hopes, delusions and horrors of pioneer settlement life with shocking clarity. I nearly put the book down and […]
Book review: A Superior Spectre, by Angela Meyer
A Superior Spectre, by Angela Meyer, is based on a fascinating premise of time travel by haunting. Leonora is a fabulously strong 1860s character. Raised by her father in the Scottish Highlands after her mother dies in Edinburgh, she wants nothing more than to tend to the animals and crops. Then the local laird takes […]
