Parini really did travel around Scotland with Borges in an old Morris Minor, his ears flapping, heart opening and mind sharpening all the way. The result is a wonderful work of autofiction -... read more
A wonderful and unusual book by a Uruguayan author, splendidly illustrated by an Argentinian. Dreamy tales of sleepy people - a man who curls up to nap inside an umbrella, another with a bod... read more
From its source to the sea: its wildlife, geography, natural history, people and history. Good non-fcition, imaginatively illustrated and conceived, for ages 7-10.
Hart began a new life in a white-washed cottage in Wigtown - her Innisfree - while recovering from cancer. There she finds that swimming in a cold sea, nattering with lobster pot men, beekee... read more
A witty historical novel that conjures Dryden, Swift, Pope, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and their ilk, by the cunning means of an imagined memoir, written by William Congreve's servant and com... read more
A dizzying and quietly surreal novel of South London life narrated through an interlinked series of episodic character studies. Ridgway's neo-Beckettian prose is never less than needle sharp... read more
After twenty years as an FT columnist and surrounded with all the usual trappings of success, Kellaway found herself uneasy. She then set about undoing the framework of her life and has retr... read more
A powerful exploration of illicit desire, in which a 17-year-old girl has a crush on a friend of her parents that turns on some dark events of 24 years previously.
An artist joins an island community of impoverished like-minded souls. When the island's owner pushes up the rent, a conflict ensues in which the dispossessed protest against gentrification.
A biography of Mildred Harnack (by her great-great-niece), the American woman who worked with political activists in Berlin1930s and then, when WW2 broke out, with the German resitance. She ... read more
Petterson has not been kind to his protagonist, removing from him by traumatic means his wife, three daughters, parents and brothers. It is no surprise that he is pole-axed by grief; will Pe... read more
How to keep chickens, make soap, create a kitchen garden, dip candles, tie knots, and a lot more. This might well take the place of the old 'Weekend Books' in an era of lockdowns.
Satisfyingly creepy crime novel from the acclaimed Icelandic author: a doll caught in a fishing net, dead bodies, cold cases... an atmospheric and well-plotted chiller to read in sunlight!
Soon after her husband leaves her, Pru goes to a friend's funeral - but it's the wrong one. She has such fun that she buys a black dress and starts attending strangers' funerals quite delibe... read more
Raven is an American biologist whose cherished solitude in a remote part of Montana is interrupted by a fox, who begins visiting her daily. As an academic, any sense of a meaningful rela... read more