International fiction
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
Commander Graham Gore, inquisitive and stubborn explorer of the arctic, was supposed to die in 1847. Instead, a mysterious government ministry selects him, alongside a small handful of other individuals from different times throughout history, to be brought forward into…
Table for Two by Amor Towles
The television adaptation of Amor Towles charming bestseller, A Gentleman in Moscow, has just started streaming. I’m not sure how it will translate, for Towles’ writing exhibits a style and panache that sits so comfortably on the page. These…
Parasol Against the Axe by Helen Oyeyemi
To those reading this review, I first ask you to imagine a city in your mind. It can be any city in the world, maybe your favourite one, or the one you’ve most recently travelled to. Now I want you…
Caledonian Road by Andrew O’Hagan
I found Mayflies, Andrew O’Hagan’s last novel, such a cosy read about youth, music, and everlasting friendships. Here, in Caledonian Road, he tackles similar themes, but ‘cosiness’ is not an adjective to use for this story. Instead, I…
Whalefall by Daniel Kraus
‘Whale fall’ is the term used when the carcass of a deceased whale settles on the ocean floor at a depth greater than a kilometre. It’s there that the body is consumed by all manner of deep-sea scavengers, sometimes over…
The Alternatives by Caoilinn Hughes
Caoilinn Hughes is touted as a major new literary voice and from the very first page of reading The Alternatives it is apparent as to why. Her prose is exciting and original and while I don’t usually like to compare…
The Divorcées by Rowan Beaird
Upon fleeing her loveless marriage, Lois Gorski finds herself back under the control of her strict father and is dispatched to The Golden Yarrow – a divorce ranch in Nevada. There she will spend six weeks under yet another person’s…
The Warm Hand of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
The Warm Hands of Ghosts is an unforgettable story centring on themes of war, love and loss. Throughout the novel, Katherine Arden brings about alternating timelines between two separated siblings, a wounded nurse and a traumatised soldier.
Set in January…
Tell by Jonathan Buckley
In Tell, a gardener talks about a wealthy businessman and art collector she used to work for in a series of interview transcripts. The man has disappeared, and the gardener is now being interviewed about his life at his…
It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over by Anne de Marcken
‘It is clear there is no simple beginning or simple ending. Every live thing is the history and future of all dead things. Every dead thing is the future of all live things.’ So muses the undead narrator of It…
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