reviewed by Frances Churchward. The latest book from award-winning Attica Locke is set mostly in Texas shortly after Trump’s election to the presidency. Immediately following the election there appears to be a rise in the activities of the far right. In East Texas, a nine year old boy has...
Books
Book review: The Burning Land by George Alagiah
reviewed by Frances Churchward. The Burning Land is George Alagiah’s first novel. Alagiah is, of course, well known as a presenter of BBC news. Before becoming a news presenter, he worked as a foreign correspondent for the BBC during which time he covered several major conflicts and he has...
Book review: Austen Secret by Richard M Jones
reviewed by Chris Richards. Exciting and satisfying, Richard M Jones presents an adjacent history beginning back over 200 years ago, showing the ripples of choices and snap judgements made down the years in his new fiction novel Austen Secret. This is the second adventure with Sidney, Ali and Gemma...
Book review: The Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman
reviewed by Frances Churchward. Laura Lippman’s latest novel is set in 1960s USA, in times when many women were expected to stay at home and look after house, husband and children. It was also a time of huge racial discrimination, when attacks on Negro women attracted little attention from...
Book Review: Our Women on the Ground: essays by Arab women reporting from the Arab world, edited by Zahra Hankir
by Alex Thurley-Ratcliff. A first of its kind, this collection of writing by Arab women journalists is both challenging and thought-provoking. It’s not comfortable reading but it’s well worth picking up, because it totally delivers. The nineteen essays cover an enormous range – from Lina Attalah’s “On a belated...
Book Review: Outgrowing God: a beginner’s guide by Richard Dawkins
by Alex Thurley-Ratcliff. “Should we believe in God? Do we need God in order to explain the existence of the universe? Do we need God in order to be good?” asks the back cover blurb on Richard Dawkins latest book. Dawkins does not just return a list of answers...
Book review: The Rapture by Claire McGlasson
Reviewed by Sally Churchward. I defy anyone to read even the cover of Claire McGlasson’s debut novel, and not be intrigued. “This is the Garden of Eden. Hidden in plain sight. It was here in Bedford all along. Welcome to the Panacea Society, a terribly English cult.” McGlasson’s work...
Book review: Lessons in Stoicism by John Sellars
reviewed by Chris Richards. John Sellars’ Lessons in Stoicism is a slim volume introducing Stoicism to a new audience; inspiring readers to become followers. Any and all readers will find wisdom and tangible pathways to contentedness in some form. Like many of the best ideas and wisdom, once found...
Book review: RMS Titanic: The Bridlington Connections by Richard M Jones
reviewed by Chris Richards. This history book is about the RMS Titanic and its links to Bridlington in Yorkshire. The tone is sensitive and celebratory of the people who made history over the last hundred years. Richard M Jones was an eleven-year-old boy when his enthusiasm for the Titanic...
Book review: The Quarter by Naguib Mahfouz
reviewed by Will Vigar. To my shame, Naguib Mahfouz is not a name I knew before receiving his book ‘The Quarter’. When you consider that he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988, this oversight seems all the more shameful. But rather than descend into a Catholic guilt...