41. My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

★★★★☆ In this striking, lucid and intimate novel about coming to terms with abuse, Kate Elizabeth Russell holds nothing back in her depiction of 15 year old Vanessa Wye’s grooming and sexual abuse at the hands of her high-school English teacher, Jacob Strane. Switching between the early 2000s and 2017, when 32 year-old Vanessa struggles

August Round-Up

August felt like it was a really long month as I look back at my reads – maybe that’s because I haven’t finished or really gelled with a book for about two weeks. I had a couple of return to work inductions last month, and I’ve now had my first day back at work. It’s

40. The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie

★★★★☆ Originally published as separate short stories in literary magazines between 1927 and 1930, The Thirteen Problem compiles the famous Miss Marple’s first appearances into a cohesive collection. Whilst each of the stories stands alone, they are framed within the setting of a dinner party: each guest recounts a mystery or crime they know of,

39. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

★★★☆☆ Following the post-humous revelation of her father’s sexuality and involvement with young men, in this graphic memoir Alison Bechdel analyses her father’s life, death and her relationship with him by drawing multiple literary parallels through which to make sense of things. She unites their experiences through a shared love of literature and, as she

38. Mayflies by Andrew O’Hagan

★★★☆☆ Precisely unravelling the effervescence of youth and evoking the alternative music scene of the mid-1980s, Mayflies offers a valuable representation of an open, affectionate and lifelong masculine friendship. Beginning with an indulgent snapshot of a weekend to Manchester in 1986, and then picking up in 2017, Andrew O’Hagan explores the enduring friendship between James

37. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

★★★☆☆ Set in the years following the Second World War, Daniel Sempere’s formative years are consumed by his quest to discover more about an accomplished but little-known author he discovers by chance, Julián Carax, and why a mysterious figure appears to be set on destroying all remaining copies of Carax’s works. Winding through the atmospheric

July Round-Up

So that’s July! I feel as if I haven’t been online, particularly on the blog, very much this month. Even though I’ve been reading pretty regularly, it’s been a slow process. I did invest in a bog-standard Android tablet this month to use as an e-reader for Libby, Borrowbox and my NetGalley that I can’t

36. We Are The Beaker Girls by Jacqueline Wilson

★★★☆☆ This follow-up to My Mum Tracy Beaker, Wilson’s return to Tracy Beaker as an adult, is a sweet and light-hearted look at family and their many different forms. As always in her works, Wilson explores social issues in a palatable and engaging way, this time returning to the care system and how children in

35. Common People: An Anthology of Working Class Writers, edited by Kit de Waal

★★★☆☆ Common People is an anthology that elevates the voices and experiences of working class writers. Ranging from established names like Kit de Waal, Malorie Blackman and Louise Doughty to writers who are being published in print for the first time in this collection, the anthology highlights the nuances of working class life in the

34. The Upstairs Room by Kate Murray-Browne

★★★★☆ Kate Murray-Browne’s smooth first novel explores the anxieties of everyday life and how they fester and grow, following a young family and their lodger as they struggle to settle into their new home and are unnerved by its bare upstairs room. Eleanor suffers from persistent headaches and sickness, their toddler’s behaviour becomes uncontrollable, and