International fiction
Us by David Nicholls
David Nicholls’s latest novel deals in a similar brand of situation and relationship comedy as his past novels (the bestselling One Day, and the earlier Starter for Ten and The Understudy), however where these previous books tended towards…
Nora Webster by Colm Tóibín
Good reads bring us into close encounters with remarkable characters – a metamorphosis takes place and we merge with that character, their lived experiences feeling as if they were our own. Nora Webster, the protagonist of Colm Tóibín’s latest masterwork…
The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher by Hilary Mantel
Unlike Hilary Mantel’s historical fiction, such as Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies, this unsettling collection of brilliantly oblique short stories is situated firmly in a modern England, observed through the eyes of Britain’s peripheral people. From closeted…
Some Luck by Jane Smiley
Some Luck may be Jane Smiley’s fourteenth novel, but it’s the first work I’ve read of hers and, I have to say, it’s left me wanting to read more! Set in Iowa, in America’s Midwest, the novel follows a farming…
Lila by Marilynne Robinson
In Lila, Marilynne Robinson returns to Gilead – the setting of her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Gilead and the Orange Prize-winning follow-up Home – and to the characters that reside in this secluded town of refuge and religion. In the…
Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante
Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels are relentless and ferocious, and wholly absorbing. With each new book, the story of Elena Greco and her friend, Lina Cerullo, intensifies, and in Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay the two women are now…
Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood
How remarkable it must have been to witness the time when genre slipped through the literary gates, from the two-bit pulp and horror heap towards the ensconced throne of the literati. With Margaret Atwood, the grand dame of Canadian gothic…
The Girls from Corona del Mar by Rufi Thorpe
Mia and Lorrie Ann live in the Californian town of Corona Del Mar. It is the 1990s, and the two girls, best friends, are 15 years old. Mia’s life is tough – her family is difficult and she’s dealing with…
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
There’s an outbreak of the flu. The virus is airborne, highly contagious, and kills almost everyone who contracts it. Within a week, the world as we know it is gone. This is the premise underlying Station Eleven, the fourth…
The Children Act by Ian McEwan
I am always excited to read a new Ian McEwan novel. His topics are so varied that you never quite know what to expect, but his style is always assured and his writing is meticulously well crafted. His new novel…
Browse our reviews by category
