"Combines typical ingredients of the big house novel and family saga with deep questions about individual responsibility, whether wrongs of the past can be righted, how we adapt to climate change and nature loss, and what kind of future we can shape."| reviewsbywriters.blogspot.com
"Historical fiction is not just a passport to the past. It can also give us a new perspective on our contemporary world: some things don’t really change."| Writers Review
Perhaps the first thing to strike you when you start reading| reviewsbywriters.blogspot.com
"Her joy in thinking and observing, in the vagaries of the emotions, in the pleasures of friendship, and in the pursuit of love, are all vividly present in her very first, utterly delightful novel."| Writers Review
I personally owe a lot to this wonderful novel. It inspired my own Spirit of the Place, of which a reviewer said, ‘It reads like a starter pack for Possession.’ Was this a put-down or praise? I chose praise, because, though not intentionally, that’s what, in effect, it is. I remember back in 1990, when the opinions of the Booker panel were televised before the winner was announced, someone from the Cambridge English Faculty dismissed Possession because, he opined, any of his colleague...| reviewsbywriters.blogspot.com
"Gradually you are training yourself to see and think your way into a radically different world. And that is a rich reward."| Writers Review
"Funny, serious, clever, controlled, sometimes a little demanding but always rewarding."| Writers Review
A book about walking might not seem like the obvious choice for me, now a full-time wheelchair user, but this is about so much more than the mere physical act itself. As well as the obvious meaning, the “old ways” explore and traverse humanity’s various journeyings and their resulting connections over the millennia; covering not just the more well-known tracks, but lesser-known ones too, over mountains and even the those more fleeting passages across the seas. These are journeys rooted...| reviewsbywriters.blogspot.com
"Just like its customers, a bookstore has its own personality and temperament ..."| Writers Review
"Hartley weaves a compelling net of intrigue and a brilliant portrayal of the starchy customs of aristocratic life ..."| reviewsbywriters.blogspot.com
I admit: I was in a rush in a bookshop and I picked up Love Forms by Claire Adam because its beautiful cover reminded me of Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers, one of my favourite books of the decade. The blurb, promising adopted babies, nuns and an older protagonist, suggested it might be up my street, so I bought it. | reviewsbywriters.blogspot.com
"Her genius is to record her characters’ flounderings with infinite compassion. Her imagination works as a kind of embrace, both tender and supremely intelligent."| reviewsbywriters.blogspot.com
For anyone who does not know him, Simon Mason is, as well as a wonderful writer, a friend of this blog. He was our special guest recently and we are fans of his work.| reviewsbywriters.blogspot.com
Adèle Geras, Celia Rees and Linda Newbery are the hosts of Writers Review. Here we each share two books that have impressed us recently and one or more titles we're planning to read next. | Writers Review
"I first read Stone Yard Devotional in great greedy gulps. It is intense and nakedly personal, and left me wanting more on every page."| Writers Review
"It's not only a Welsh community, but also a large-scale environmental stewardship project that is threatened with destruction, uniting two of the key themes of the novel."| Writers Review
"Moss can see an everyday bird and take pleasure from it - every day. His enthusiasm is catching: boundless."| Writers Review
"Allen says that she wrote this book 'accompanied by many tears', but warns that it is too easy to judge the generations that came before us, while our own shows equal carelessness."| Writers Review
"A superb book. You’ll have to work hard at it. But the rewards are intensely satisfying." | Writers Review
"This jewel of a book is out there, like our beautiful planet in space; silent, modest, wonderful, waiting to be found."| Writers Review
"Primarily a mystery, but it turned out to be so much more ..."| Writers Review
"At one level, this is the story of how the natural world entranced, comforted and sustained her as she developed her expert eye ... there is a lot to learn and enjoy in her observations, and in her intense feeling for the land."| Writers Review
"Only a writer of Atkinson's skill could pull this off without straining credibility to breaking point."| Writers Review
"A quiet trailblazer, always innovative with structure, bold and provocative ..."| Writers Review
"I wondered what it must have been like for Patty to deal with John absconding from an asylum not to return home to her and their seven children but to find his ‘other wife’, Mary Joyce."| Writers Review
"That’s what I like best, when writing historical fiction, lots of facts to draw on but a great big gap where you can create the story."| Writers Review
Adèle Geras, Celia Rees and Linda Newbery are the hosts of Writers Review. Here we each share two books that have impressed us recently and one or more titles we're planning to read next. | reviewsbywriters.blogspot.com
"This experience has caused Rebanks to dig much deeper as a writer. His enforced time out has him reaching for greater profundity while maintaining a simple, thoughtful style."| reviewsbywriters.blogspot.com
