Book Reviews

BOOK REVIEW: JOHN OF JOHN By Douglas Stuart (Picador, 2026)

John of John is a beautifully written book about love, loneliness and the weight of not being acknowledged for who you are. As a writer Stuart has come a long way from Shuggie Bain, both in craft and style. I would definitely recommend it, and I'm not surprised it has made the 2026 Booker shortlist.

BOOK REVIEW: THE THINGS WE NEVER SAY By Elizabeth Strout (Penguin/Viking, 20226)

Elizabeth Strout has always written about the quiet lives of characters like Olive Kitteridge or Lucy Barton, lives that are not as ordinary as they seem. Her most recent book, shortlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize, The Things We Never Say is no exception.

SHORT FICTION: THE PYTHON’S KISS By Louise Erdrich (Corsair Books, 2026)

Python’s Kiss is a body of work that ranges widely in tone and character. What unites the collection is Erdrich’s unique sensibility, her tapestry of mythic and mysterious and real, and the beauty and exactitude of Erdrich's mature prose.

BOOK REVIEW: UNDER WATER By Tara Menon (Summit Books, 2026)

Tara Menon's debut novel, Under Water, is a haunting story of loss, the fragility of friendship, and the destructive relationship between humans and nature.

BOOK REVIEW: THE CORRESPONDENT BY Virginia Evans (Penguin, 2025)

The winner of the 2025 Women's Prize for Fiction is THE CORRESPONDENT by Virginia Evans. It's an epistolary novel, told in a series of letters, emails, and messages, narrated by Sybil Van Antwerp, a 73-year-old woman.

BOOK REVIEW: LONDON FALLING By Patrick Radden Keefe (Picador, 2025)

It's rare for me to pick up a book of non-fiction that has nothing to do with literature, past or present. But Patrick Radden Keefe's LONDON FALLING has been the book that everyone has been talking about in London these past few months.

BOOK REVIEW: THE HOUNDING By Xenobe Purvis (Hutchinson Heinemann, 2025)

Xenobe Purvis's debut novel THE HOUNDING is set in the eighteenth century in the village of Little Nettlebed, Oxfordshire. It's the story of the five Mansfield sisters over the course of a hot, uncomfortable summer.

BOOK REVIEW: MAY WE FEED THE KING By Rebecca Perry (GRANTA, 2026)

‘Listen for everything and above all, pay attention,’ is what the curator of the palace of a forgotten king says as they allow the expectant audience through the door. Rebecca Perry's debut novel MAY WE FEED THE KING is definitely a book in which we need to pay attention.

BOOK REVIEW: THE PALM HOUSE By Gwendoline Riley (Picador, 2026)

Every so often I come across a writer whose writing leaves me thinking, wanting more of the writing that lends itself to making the ordinary extraordinary. Gwendoline Riley is one such writer.

BOOK REVIEW: MOTHER MARY COMES TO ME By Arundhati Roy (Penguin, 2025)

Arundhati Roy's memoir MOTHER MARY COMES TO ME is an intimate account of a daughter's grief at losing her mother. Written with both clarity and intensity, the memoir reflects on the turbulent mother-daughter relationship Roy shared with her single mother, Mary Roy.

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August 2025

BOOK REVIEW: THIS DARK NIGHT: The Life of Emily Brontë By Deborah Lutz (London, Bloomsbury, 2026)

What was the real Emily Brontë like? For years her only novel WUTHERING HEIGHTS has kept writers and academics wondering about the real mind behind this much-loved classic by one of Britain’s most famous literary stars.

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August 2025