I really enjoyed this unusual book, a Booker Prize winner back in 1984, which was recommended to me for my reading list this year. It tells the story of Kere, a woman who lives in a tower and has distanced herself from other people, especially her family. But she finds herself drawn out of herself, …
Tag: book reviews
Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
Published back in 1956, this novel broke the bounds of what was acceptable and became a runaway best seller. Previous to it's publication, books and films revolved around women being the objects of desire, rather than possessing any, and small town America was felt to be safe, sleep and benign. And then this book came …
The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman
If you've ever been to a small town, where everyone knows everyone and each house is full of old names and ancient history, this book should feel familiar. It's the story of a place, from its foundation to current day. Each chapter tells a different part of local history, and family names and traits flow …
Lily Dale: The Town That Talks To The Dead by Christine Wicker
This year, in November, I set myself the task of writing a book. It had been germinating in my mind for a while, and I needed to get it down on paper. The story itself has aspects of Victorian Englands obsession with death and greiving, and the phenomenon of Spiritualism that rose up in that …
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Book Review: No Rest For The Wicked, A Novella by Dane Cobain
I was sent this book for review by the author, and I was curious about it because he's a local London writer. It's always nice to read the words of someone who lives in your city. The book is a slim volume, and explores some interesting themes about right and wrong, Hadron colliders and religion. …
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The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
Set in the last four years of the Jewish occupation of the Masada fortress in ancient Israel in the time of the Roman occupation, this book tells the events of the lives of four women there who work together in the Dovecotes. I suppose most of you who have an interest in the history of …
The Book Of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
The designs on the covers of this book (there are two, one for the character Bea and one for Peter) are very beautiful, and having read the authors incredible book The Crimson Petal And The White, I expected big things. When Peter is selected by the mysterious company USIC to be a minister on the colonised …
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The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman
One of Hoffman's shorter novels, this fairytale-like story is of a girl whose impulsive wishes can curse those around her to die, and whose wrteched heart has turned to ice.Her first wish was as an eight year old girl, when she wanted her mother to stay home instead of go out to a birthday dinner, …
The Diabolic by SJ Kincaid
In this compelling and violent Young Adult novel, Kincaid has managed to create a world that imaginatively different, but in some ways scarily similar to our own. In a Dystopian future, technology has ground to a stand still, with a religious dark age enacted by the ruling elite who use religion to keep the massive …
Seventh Heaven by Alice Hoffman
When Nora Silk, a recently divorced mother of two, moves into a small suburb in Long Island in 1959, her single unmarried state upsets the delicate balance. It's a town where emotional mess is kept hidden and everyone is expected to keep their lawn perfect. But Nora is a beautiful carefree spirit, and though she …
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