Praised by Raymond Chandler as one of the best suspense writers of her era, the American writer Elisabeth Sanxay Holding produced eighteen crime novels and many short stories over the course of her…

Despite having overflowing bookshelves and a mountainous TBR, I still always seem to amass multiple copies of individual titles, and today’s book is a good example of that. Back in the 1990s …

Perceptive, engrossing and enigmatic, Look at Me – Anita Brookner’s third novel – is something of a minor masterpiece, probing as it does the inner life of a lonely young woman who experiences a br…

Anita Brookner was a prolific writer and a master of both comedy and tragedy. Over the course of 28 years, she wrote 24 novels, winning the Booker Prize in 1984 with Hotel du Lac. But where should you...

For our September 2026 episode of Starship Alexandria Emma puts forward the book Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner for Adrian’s consideration.  Other talking points:  Unspoiler warnings  Deniable wizbiz  Period writing styles  The straitjacket of expectations  Burning Bedfordshire  Lit and genre    Media Mentions:  Memoirs of a Survivor, novel by Doris Lessing (and our patrons-only discussion)  Writers referred to in general: Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, Mervyn Peake, Jerome K Jerome, PG Wodehouse  Next month we look at the graphic novel Helen of Wyndhorn by King, Evely, Lopes and Cowles  This month’s patron episode is the novel A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge  Emma’s music recommendation: Washing Machine Heart by Mitski   Emma’s latest writing is included in Creative Futures (Beyond and Within) which was recently shortlisted for a BSFA Award  Adrian’s most recent book is Engines of Reason   If you'd like to support the show, and get an additional monthly patrons-only episode, you can become a patron at   You can buy our official t-shirts and mugs at     Follow us at:  Emma: @emmanewman@bsky.social and   Adrian: @aptshadow.bsky.social and  

Lolly Willowes – the debut novel of the English writer Sylvia Townsend Warner – was an instant success on its publication in 1926. Now regarded as something of an early feminist classic, it tells t…

U.S. CD revenue jumped 58.6% in the first half of 2026, reversing last year’s decline as interest in retro tech and physical media continues to grow.

Today, for Women in Translation Month, I’m showcasing six books by women writers in translation, all published in the UK by Daunt Books. Daunt has a long tradition of supporting writers from across…

In this lyrical, beautifully written novel, we follow a day in the life of the Marshalls, an upper-middle-class family struggling to find a new way to live in an England altered irrevocably by WW2.…

Claudia Pineiro is now well known for exploring social issues through novels which read like thrillers, but she does not perhaps get the credit she deserves for the way she structures her stories. …

Groundhog Dane

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Portuguese immigrant Aurora is struggling to get by in a dead-end warehouse job in Scotland. Her life is severely limited - unless she can find some hope.

The opening date 23 September is the actual date of the Coltrane centenary Robert Glasper is the headliner for the club's grand opening on 23 and 24 September and will return for a further seven shows...

Last year, I wrote about Jasmine Tea and other stories/novellas by Eileen Chang, one of the greatest chroniclers of Chinese life in the 20th century. In these pieces, Chang exposes the traditional …