The Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins descends on seventeen-century Essex, where he finds himself oddly fascinated by a 'peculiar' young woman. A historical novel with real bite, which rec... read more
A delightful catalogue to the recent exhibition held in Brecon, which looked at the two years Jones spent in in a small village in the Black Mountains in the mid-1920s, recovering (somewhat)... read more
Sidestepping the incipient Algerian War of Independence, a young Algerian Jew leaves Paris for a lakeside town in the French Alps. Years later he is haunted by this seemingly idyllic summer.... read more
When the author's mother dies, leaving a strangely symbolic collection of everyday objects behind her, Wicha begins to sort through the belongings and constructs a minute, material history b... read more
A ravishing book that revels in this beautiful white stuff: writer and Arctic traveller Nancy Campbell takes our minds and imaginations on a snowy journey to other cultures, other worlds - I... read more
Powerful tale of espionage and love in the early years of the Syrian war. By a former CIA agent, this was published in 2021 in the US and only now in the UK, propelled by word of mouth.
Witty, romantic, light but undeniably literary... the great Chilean novelist has done it again. There are echoes of Auster in his writing: a relish for books about books, stories within stor... read more
A prelapsarian tale about a haven of racially integrated citizens, based on a real island off the coast of Maine which became - for a while - an exotic utopia in the late C18th.
The title is the nickname of St Cuthbert, a C7th hermit. It begins there and ends in 21st century Co. Durham... An incantatory, feverish and experimental novel with prose that skips, slides ... read more
This love story tacks between an English boarding school and the Western Front. A moving historical debut; compelling and unexpectedly funny (for the Somme).
Somerset Maugham appears as one of two narrators in this atmospheric novel of love, truth, secrecy and betrayal in 1920s' colonial Penang. Eng's airy storytelling is a rare gift: he gives hi... read more
As six astronauts orbit the earth in a space station, collecting scientific data, their attention is tugged t by distant human events and relationships. Beautifully written, this is an affec... read more