Title: The Witches of New York Writer: Amy McKay Publishing House: Orion Date of Publication: October 27th 2016 (first published October 8th 2016) Rating: 5 stars ‘’New York had become a city of achievements. Wonders and marvels came so frequent and fast, a day without spectacle was cause for concern.’’ ‘’Queens have been crowned, schemes…
Month: May 2021
The Woman in the Purple Skirt
Title: The Woman in the Purple Skirt Writer: Natsuko Imamura (translated by Lucy North) Publishing House: Faber & Faber Date of Publication: June 3rd 2021 (first published June 30th 2019) Rating: 4 stars ‘’Some people would pretend they hadn’t seen her, and carry on as before. Others would quickly move aside, to give her room…
A Pocketful of Crows
Title: A Pocketful of Crows Writer: Joanne M. Harris, illustrated by Bonnie Helen Hawkins Publishing House: Gollancz Date of Publication: October 19th 2017 Rating: 5 stars ‘’I have no name. The travelling folk have neither name, nor master. When I die, no stone will be laid. No flowers will be scattered. When I die, I…
Dreaming in Quantum and Other Stories
Title: Dreaming in Quantum and Other Stories Writer: Lynda Clark Publishing House: Fairlight Books Date of Publication: November 1st 2021 Rating: 5 stars ‘’In winter, there’s nothing. Maybe a lone dog walker skirting the edges, but usually just the crows in the yew trees above, cawing threats at the wood pigeons. Silence, punctuated by those…
Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Café
Title: Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Café (original title: 在謊言拆穿之前) Writer: Toshikazu Kawaguchi (translated by Geoffrey Trousselot) Publishing House: Picador Date of Publication: September 17th 2020 (first published April 27th 2018) Rating: 5 stars ‘’That night… Around the station there stood many Christmas trees, decorated with lights that shone and sparkled. The…
The Enchanted Night: Selected Tales
Title: The Enchanted Night: Selected Tales Writer: Miklós Bánffy (translated by Len Rix) Publishing House: Pushkin Press Date of Publication: May 25th 2021 Rating: 5 stars ‘’There was a horror in the wintry silence, a silence more profound than in any previous winter. It was as if life itself had been somehow diminished; as if…
The Evening and the Morning
Title: The Evening and the Morning Writer: Ken Follett Publishing House: Viking Date of Publication: September 15th 2020 Rating: 5 stars ‘’At last, the church bell struck.’’ 997. England stands at a crossroads. The Dark Ages are almost over, a new era is about to begin. The dangers are still present as the Welsh threat…
The Field
Title: The Field Writer: Robert Seethaler (translated by Charlotte Collins) Publishing House: Picador Date of Publication: March 18th 2021 (first published June 4th 2018) Rating: 5 stars ‘’Did I talk about tomorrow? Did I tell you that I love you? Do you remember?’’ In a German town, the dead have indeed their own stories to…
Τhe Illumination of Ursula Flight
Title: The Illumination of Ursula Flight Writer: Anna-Marie Crowhurst Publishing House: Allen & Unwin Date of Publication: May 3rd 2018 Rating: 5 stars ‘’On the fifteenth day of December in the year of our Lord 1664, a great light bloomed in the dark sky and crept slowly and silently across the blackness: a comet. The…
The Dangers of Smoking in Bed
Title: The Dangers of Smoking In Bed (original title: Los peligros de fumar en la cama) Writer: Mariana Enriquez (translated by Megan McDowell) Publishing House: Hogarth Press Date of Publication: January 12th 2021 (first published November 2009) Rating: 5 stars ‘’Or she’d hear a rooster crow in the middle of the night and remember –…
The Opinionated Reader 