Several years ago, out of the blue, my big sister got an e-mail from a man called Jim who lived in Australia and happened to be a second cousin we didn’t know we had. Jim was researching the Nesbitt family tree, and one of its branches led him to us in England. Other branches led … More Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
I’ll let you into a secret: when I was a teenager I accepted a lift from a stranger. I was travelling alone to visit my big sis’, a trip I’d made several times before with my mum but I had my nose in a book instead of my eyes on the road and contrived to … More Felicia’s Journey by William Trevor
Should I stay or should I go now? If I go there will be trouble. An’ if I stay there will be double (from The Clash’s single Should I Stay or Should I Go?) The Inheritance of Loss won the Man Booker prize in 2006. It opens in the remote Himalayan town of Kalimpong, where a retired … More The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
My hubby’s a golf nut and was also into the Bond books in a big way in his teens, so when asked to name his favourite bit in Goldfinger (the tatty, dog-eared copy in my hand belongs to him) it didn’t come as too much of a surprise when he plumped, without hesitation, for the … More Goldfinger by Ian Fleming
When hubby and I were renovating the money pit we now call home we got to know a fair few local tradesmen. A year later we bought an investment flat and mostly asked the same tradesmen back again. In the meantime one of their wives had self-immolated. Even typing it gives me goose bumps. There … More The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer
I first read The Woman in Black in June 2010 ahead of seeing a wonderful stage production at Liverpool Playhouse. Since then, of course, there’s been a film version starring Daniel Radcliffe and the fact it’s been adapted for both stage and screen is testament to the story’s appeal. So when it popped up last … More The Woman In Black by Susan Hill
When I go to a bookshop, I’m like a magpie in a field full of shiny things. My cousin is the opposite; she buys books one at a time. Last time we went to a bookshop together, of all the books that caught her eye she plumped for the longest on the grounds that it … More The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
My hubby’s Gran once told me that as you grow old you don’t regret the things you’ve done as much as you regret the things you wish you’d done. She lived well into her 90s so I guess she knew what she was talking about, although her philosophy does tend to assume that the wished-for-but-not-done … More Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anniston, Paul McCartney and Heather Mills, Hugh Grant and Liz Hurley – how many column inches did their break-ups generate, I wonder? Dishing the dirt when a high profile relationship bites the dust sells newspapers; that’s nothing new, it seems. Chances are you’ll have heard about (if not read) Emma Donoghue’s … More The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue
Murder mystery isn’t normally my genre of choice. Not sure why not, because invariably I enjoy it on those rare occasions I read it. But, hey, I was spending 12 days in sunny Corfu so in keeping with the spirit of holiday as being a break from the norm, I downloaded Sharp Objects, Gillian Flynn’s … More Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
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