The Kings Inquisitor by Tonya Ulynn Brown opens in December 1590 with James VI and his childhood friend William Broune making their way at dusk through the noisesome streets of Edinburgh in the company of a witch-pricker. In a dank room reeking of evil and cruelty at the Edinburgh’s gaol, the Tollbooth, David Seaton, Deputy … Continue reading Book Review – The Kings Inquisitor by Tonya Ulynn Brown
Book reviews
Book Review – The Angel of Goliad by Jean M Roberts
The Angel of Goliad begins in Houston, Texas in the present day when Magda O’Toole, an investigative journalist, wakes from a four month coma following a fall from a ladder and is stunned to discover that she can now speak Spanish. On her return home, she finds a package from Matamoros, Mexico waiting for her. … Continue reading Book Review – The Angel of Goliad by Jean M Roberts
My Reading – November 2020
A Plague on Mr Pepys by Deborah Swift Bess Bagwell clung to the seat as a wash of freezing river water sluiced over the side of the wherry. She had to shift fast, to avoid a drenching. Expectation by Anna Hope It is Saturday, which is market day. It is late spring, or early summer. … Continue reading My Reading – November 2020
My Reading – October 2020
Singapore Sapphire by A M Stuart 'Hello,' she called, her voice vanishing into the dark bowels of the house. Moominvalley in November by Tove Jansson Early one morning in Moominvalley Snufkin woke up in his tent with the feeling that autumn had come and that it was time to break camp. Moominpappa at Sea by … Continue reading My Reading – October 2020
My Reading – September 2020
The Devil's Dye by Jeni Neill 'The hog can be smelt from the street for Lord's sake!' The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue Still hours of dark to go when I left the house that morning. A Murder By Any Name by Suzanne M Wolfe 'God's bollocks, girl! I'm freezing my tits off!' … Continue reading My Reading – September 2020
Book Review – This is Happiness by Niall Williams
This is Happiness begins with the sky clearing and the rain stopping just after 3 o’clock on the Wednesday afternoon of Holy Week in 1958 while the people of Faha in county Clare are at Church. This is a rare occurrence in Faha as rain 'was a condition of living'. Seventeen-year-old Noel Crowe, known as … Continue reading Book Review – This is Happiness by Niall Williams
In my beginning is my end? – Opening and closing lines
A little while ago I saw a quote from the American novelist Gloria Naylor - 'One should be able to return to the first sentence of a novel and find the resonances of the entire work.' Other than in consciously literary works, I wondered how often this happened so I took a few favourite books … Continue reading In my beginning is my end? – Opening and closing lines
My Reading – May 2020
The Mirror and the Light by Hilary MantelOnce the queen's head is severed, he walks away. Fair Play by Tove JanssonJonna had a happy habit of waking each morning as if to a new life. A Phoenix Rising by Vivienne Brereton 'Do you think the King and Queen will like me?'
My Reading – January 2020
There was Still Love by Favel ParrettThere are suitcases everywhere. A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo IshiguroNiki, the name we finally gave my younger daughter, is not an abbreviation; it was a compromise I reached with her father. Springtime : A Ghost Story by Michelle de KretserThat spring, Frances walked along the river every … Continue reading My Reading – January 2020
A Year of Reading – 2019
With each successive year I seem to be slipping further and further from my goal of reading a book a week. That goal was almost in sight when I read fifty books in 2017 but the following year I dropped back to forty books and this year is even worse with only thirty-seven books read. … Continue reading A Year of Reading – 2019
Catherine Meyrick 