by Louise | Jan 26, 2021 | book review, fiction
This lyrical and magical novel tells the story of Imani, who is a foundling. She is brought up in a remote and austere convent on an island off the coast of Northumberland – all she knows is the Sisters, the members of the small village community on the island,...
by Louise | Oct 29, 2020 | book review, fiction
So it’s nearly Hallowe’en, and although I won’t be handing out treats to the local trick-or-treaters* I’m always up for a spooky book around this season. In fact, I save spooky books for this time of year, when the nights and the weather start to close in. This book...
by Louise | Sep 18, 2020 | book review, fiction
Confined, tied and then chained to an iron stake for over a decade, James Norris exists in a dim and agonised half-life of madness and pain. Once a sailor putting out onto blue water, now he is an inmate of Bedlam – far less than human in the eyes of society, and yet...
by Louise | Sep 2, 2016 | book review, fiction
I read this book in one sitting. This is not something I say or write often – in fact, I can’t remember the time I genuinely sat down with a book and didn’t get up again until I had finished it. This is testament to the quality of this book – although to be fair, I...