All of the pieces are powerful, richly depicted, allowing the reader access to the very core of transition. Kofman has a well-tuned sense of what works together and the pieces flow together perfectly, each essay informing the work that surrounds it, so that the overall book feels interlinked. It makes for engaging reading that is emotionally powerful throughout.
A review of 125 Rus by Ana Efimenko
If you’re a Dostoevskian existentialist, an armchair philosopher, or just interested in international indie writing, 125 Rus is for you. Just don’t forget yourself reading it!
A review of The Hate Race by Maxine Beneba Clarke
From the day of early childhood to the teenage years, Clarke consistently takes moments of her life, interrogates them, and gives them a certain form of literary justice. I wouldn’t say a poetic justice, because Clarke isn’t trying to write poetically. She is giving a record of what it means to be born as a foreigner in your own country, and the existential challenges which come throughout.
A review of No Spider Harmed in the Making of this Book Edited by Cherry Potts
Editor Cherry Potts created a masterful work of art with this anthology, intricately combining poetry, short stories and flash fiction that spans a variety of themes. In all of the works, the writing is accessible, yet beautiful. The otherworldliness of spiders brings about bewitching language in almost all of the entries.
An interview with Amanda Jeffery
The author of The Fourth Year Spell talks about her new book, why she wrote it, inspiration and influences, challenges and tips for new writers, and lots more.
A review of Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Fangirl highlights the dynamics of relationships between characters as the book progresses and these connections with others are influential in the overall plot of the book. Both family and love are major themes and the way in which Rainbow Rowell has written this is beautiful.
A review of The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes by Suzanne Collins
Readers of The Hunger Games will remember notorious ruler President Snow, bent on what feels like a personal vendetta against the lower class districts and their citizens. This new look on 18-year-old Coriolanus implores readers to see reasonable intentions and views going through his head.
A review of Black Rabbit by Angus Gaunt
There are multiple ways to read Black Rabbit, and the reader is invited to take part in the meaning making in a way that is very open. You can imagine Maurice’s arc in multiple ways. However you choose to interpret it, Black Rabbit is a terrific read, full of unpredictable twists, well-drawn characters and an unforgettable narrative.
A review of Catastroika by Charles Rammelkamp
If you, my reader, like history and poetry you will love Catastroika, a fascinating book in which the poet, in narrative form, covers a century on Russian history from the point of view of two characters: Maria Rasputin, the daughter of the much maligned Russian spiritualist Rasputin and Alexander Federmesser, a Jewish man who goes by the name of Sasha.
A review of Old Lovegood Girls by Gail Godwin
Expertly, Godwin dropped hints that another story lay beneath the surface one. Similarly, the secrets in Old Lovegood Girls, revealed in enticing dribs and drabs, keep the reader intrigued. What actually transpired between Feron and the passenger on the bus when she ran away in 1958? Was it really seasonal depression that caused Merry’s mother to withdraw to her attic room in winter?