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Books

Untouchable Things Blog Tour: Interview with Tara Guha

Blog tour By Jan 23, 2016 4 Comments

I’m thrilled to welcome author Tara Guha today to talk about her debut novel. Untouchable Things is an excellent if unsettling psychological thriller about a disparate group of people brought together by an enigmatic host who stages themed soirées for them all. It was the winner of the Luke Bitmead Bursary in 2014 and is published by Legend Press. Hello,…

Book Review: The Letters of Ivor Punch by Colin MacIntyre

Book reviews By Jan 04, 2016 No Comments

Ivor Punch is the (former) police sergeant of a small island off the west coast of Scotland. He’s a man of few (spoken) words but a prolific letter writer, which he liberally punctuates with the f-bomb. (Used more as an outburst than swearing, so it didn’t offend this reader.) His letters are funny, revealing, poignant, matter of fact and heartfelt…

Author Interview Part 2: Jo Verity

Authors, Books By Dec 16, 2015 6 Comments

Welcome back for Part 2 of my interview with Honno author Jo Verity. (You can read Part 1 here.) Today, we’re talking about her latest novel, Left and Leaving.  Photographer Gil is on an extended grey gap-year, working in the London hospital to which Vivian brings Irene for emergency treatment; together they try to establish calm amid the chaos. Irene is thrilled with…

Author Interview Part 1: Jo Verity

Authors By Dec 15, 2015 5 Comments

One of the books I’ve most enjoyed reading this year has been Left and Leaving by Jo Verity. It’s a great contemporary novel set in London, in a winter which mutes that hectic city, and is as much a story about the random connections we form as well as the more problematic relationship between a daughter and her widowed father. It’s…

Author Interview: Stephanie Butland #TheOtherHalfofmyHeart blog tour

Authors, Blog tour, Books By Oct 27, 2015 No Comments

My guest today is author Stephanie Butland whose wonderful first novel Letters to my Husband I reviewed here. Today Stephanie’s stopping off on her blog tour for her second novel, The Other Half of My Heart, which came out last Thursday. Here’s what it’s about:  “It smelled bittersweetly of sourdough, and there was the trace of hot, fresh bread in the…

Book review: Letters to my Husband by Stephanie Butland

Book reviews By Apr 09, 2015 1 Comment

It’s a sad fact of life that sometimes we only get to know a person after their death. Funerals can be revelatory affairs. I’ve been to a fair few in the past year and have always come away knowing far more about the person whose life we were celebrating than I did when they were alive. Admittedly, those same funerals…

An Evening with Kate Hamer, or When the Squirrel in the Red Coat met The Girl in the Red Coat

Authors, Events By Mar 28, 2015 No Comments

I lived in Roath when I was a student but haven’t spent much time there since moving back to Wales in 1999. Except for the past week when I’ve been there not once, but twice. The second time was on Thursday evening, when Squizzey and I went to an event with local author Kate Hamer at the wonderful Wellfield Bookshop…