Excellent Penang fantasy
At first reading of the blurb, I was none too sold on this book; it came across as being in the fantasy genre with ghosts and hauntings – the supernatural is not really my scene. However, since it is set...
Lisa
A dedicated, thoughtful, doctor
Having thoroughly enjoyed Henry Marsh’s first book, Do No Harm, and also quite enjoyed his second, Admissions, I was pleased to hear of the publication of his third book, And Finally. Marsh is a neurosurgeon, and his first two books...
Multiracial Britain
Adekoya is a Nigerian Polish man, married to a Nigerian woman, and who identifies strongly with his Christian faith too. These identity factors are important to him, he tells his readers. He sets out to investigate and tell the story...
Dickensian Appalachia
The perennial problem with getting one’s hands on a new release by a favourite author, is the reining in of expectations, so as not to unfairly set up a novel for failure/disappointment. It is hard however, not to get excited...
“I don’t see color”
This book is definitely not intended to amuse, but I could not help but be amused as I read; being entertained while being educated is surely no bad thing. Diangelo’s Nice Racism followed on from her 2011 White Fragility, which...
Legal Role Models
Having been very impressed by Fierce Kingdom, I was eager to try another Gin Phillips novel. This one is not quite as thrilling and suspenseful, but the voice is similar, and similarly engaging. The novel focuses on the relationship between...
A worthwhile protagonist in a less worthwhile immigrant novel
Yang’s Chinese-immigrant-coming-to-America novel is in some ways similar to others of its genre, in that our protagonist, Ivy Lin, finds herself different from her American peers and longs to fit in. In these ways, Ivy’s tale is like many second...
Inherited Trauma
This book is predicated on the notion of epigenetic inheritance and generational trauma. The idea is that perhaps people can inherit traumas which they themselves did not experience, but which is somehow written into their genes so that it produces...
Lovely, lively characters
Having loved Liardet’s first novel, We Must Be Brave, I was of course eagerly anticipating this, her second. And once again, right from the start, I found myself in the hands of a skilled storyteller. This novel was set in...
An immigrant story in a lively voice
This is a rather charming novel although not entirely novel in material, about immigrants to the USA. The novel show cases immigrants from the Dominican Republic who have moved to New York in search of a better life, income, and...
Pain and Glory
Having been very impressed by Abbott’s The End of Everything, I was thrilled to get hold of another of her novels. This one is about ballet and ballerinas. Not a world I know anything about, but Abbott is a consummately...
Outsidership, through the prism of friendship
Having read and loved all Kamila Shamsie’s novels, I was thrilled to get my hands on her latest, Best of Friends. Even better, the blurb suggested it was going to be a read similar to Kartography, one of Shamsie’s earlier...
The Pennington half-siblings
This is a fun read, but not to be taken entirely seriously. It starts with an introduction of the vast cast, of Cyril Pennington’s five children and their mothers. His eldest and youngest, Nikisha and Prynce have the same Jamaican...
Appalachian grit
This is one of those utterly charming books which conjure up a particular place and time so well that it transports the reader into that world. Set in the Appalachian mountains, this novel depicts a very deprived community in Baines...
Life in Translation
There have been increasing numbers of Koreans writers in English in this century, and there is no doubt that they are collectively conveying a very distinct identity for the Korean diaspora in fiction. There are themes common to many immigrant...
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