When Nora (@pear-jelly on Bluesky and Instagram) announced that she would be hosting #SpinsterSeptember again this year, Simon (at Stuck in a Book) suggested Katherine Dunning’s The Spring Begins a…| JacquiWine's Journal
The critically acclaimed novelist, essayist and screenwriter Eileen Chang was one of the greatest chroniclers of Chinese life in the 20th century. In Love in a Fallen City, an insightful, exquisite…| JacquiWine's Journal
In this fascinating, deeply moving book, the Italian writer Marta Barone takes the reader on a journey to reconstruct the father, Leonardo Barone (LB), she only partially knew before his death – an investigation that takes us back to The Years of Lead, a time of radical protest and political turmoil in Italy during the […]| JacquiWine's Journal
What a phenomenal book this is, an autobiographical feminist novel first published in Italian in 1906, under a pseudonym due to its radical content. Touching on similar themes to Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s seminal text The Yellow Wallpaper and Alba de Cespedes’ startling confessional novel Forbidden Notebook, in which a woman explores the right to her […]| JacquiWine's Journal
Long Live the Post Horn! is my second encounter with the acclaimed Norwegian writer Vigdis Horth’s work, and happily, it’s a much more satisfying experience than my first. Her 2020 novel, Is Mother Dead was too intense and claustrophobic for me, but Post Horn is right up my street. Ostensibly, a portrayal of a lonely […]| JacquiWine's Journal
When Dorian (at Eiger, Mönch & Jungfrau) first introduced me to Laurie Colwin’s books, he described them as very New York-y. Wry rather than funny, bittersweet but not sentimental – and Jewish, albeit in a low-key kind of way. A little like Woody Allen’s films, back in the days when they were good. (Annie Hall […]| JacquiWine's Journal
If you follow the International Booker Prize, the name Solvej Balle will be familiar to you. This critically acclaimed Danish writer scored a hit in the 1990s with According to the Law: Four Accoun…| JacquiWine's Journal
If you’re a fan of Mariana Enriquez’s dark, deeply disturbing stories on the horrors rooted in Argentina’s history, you will love Hungry for What, a ferocious collection of short fiction from Spani…| JacquiWine's Journal