Continuing on with this series of short stories by Faber, this week I’ve read two more during my lunch breaks at work. Some brief thoughts on each: Mrs Fox by Sarah Hall – This one was unexpectedly odd in the direction it moved, yet strangely compelling. I’m still not sure what to make of it. … Continue reading Faber Stories: Two Brief Reviews| Theresa Smith Writes
About the Book: On the twelfth day of her hunger strike, Maggy is unable to tell the difference between what is real and what is imagined. That’s true of what brought her here too: was she IRA, or did she just take risks for the sake of a friend? Julia O’Faolain paints a portrait of … Continue reading Short Story Review: Daughters of Passion by Julia O’Faolain| Theresa Smith Writes
About the Book: An interpreter has come to The Hague to escape New York and work at the International Court. She’s drawn into simmering personal dramas. Her lover, Adriaan, is separated from his wife but still entangled in his marriage. Her friend Jana witnesses a seemingly random act of violence, a crime the interpreter becomes … Continue reading Book Review: Intimacies by Katie Kitamura| Theresa Smith Writes
About the Book: Nonfiction winner of the Finlay Lloyd 20/40 Prize for 2025 Documenting the damaging role of anxiety in our lives is hardly new, but Touched takes us inside the destabilising riot of a three-day panic attack with such insight, honesty and humour that the perspective we gain is revelatory and overwhelmingly hopeful. This book has … Continue reading Touched by Kim Kelly| Theresa Smith Writes
About the Book: A rich historical novel about the aftermath of betrayal, from the Booker prize-winner. Isabel Osmond, a spirited, intelligent young heiress, flees to London after being betrayed by her husband, to be with her beloved cousin Ralph on his deathbed. After a sombre, silent existence at her husband’s Roman palazzo, Isabel’s daring escape … Continue reading Book Review: Mrs Osmond by John Banville| Theresa Smith Writes
Translated by Jenny McPhee ~~ Audiobook Narrated by Suzanne Toren About the Book: An Italian family, sizable, with its routines and rituals, crazes, pet phrases, and stories, doubtful, comical, indispensable, comes to life in the pages of Natalia Ginzburg’s Family Lexicon. Giuseppe Levi, the father, is a scientist, consumed by his work and a mania for … Continue reading Book Review: Family Lexicon by Natalia Ginzburg| Theresa Smith Writes
Translated by Sophie Hughes About the Book: Shortlisted, International Booker Prize, United Kingdom, 2025 Longlisted, National Book Award for Translated Literature, United States, 2025 They have ev…| Theresa Smith Writes
This week I’ve been enjoying these Faber shorts. They’re easy to devour in one sitting and provide an undemanding read for a busy mind. I’ve become a little addicted to them. Some brief thoughts on these four: Homeland by Barbara Kingsolver – A surprisingly deep story about family heritage and culture within a context of … Continue reading Faber Stories: Four Brief Reviews| Theresa Smith Writes
About the Book: Winner of the Miles Franklin Award and recognised as one of the greatest works of Australian literature, Cloudstreet is Tim Winton’s sprawling, comic epic about luck and love, fortitude and forgiveness, and the magic of the everyday. After two separate catastrophes, two very different families leave the country for the bright lights of Perth. … Continue reading Cloudstreet by Tim Winton| Theresa Smith Writes
About the Book: The bestselling, Booker shortlisted novel by one of Britain’s greatest living novelists. Set in New England mainly and London partly, On Beauty concerns a pair of feuding families – the Belseys and the Kipps – and a clutch of doomed affairs. It puts low morals among high ideals and asks some searching … Continue reading Book Review: On Beauty by Zadie Smith| Theresa Smith Writes
