Tag Archives: book

Sam Neill’s memoir delves into cancer, Jurassic Park – and some painful celebrity tales

Posted on March 21, 2023 by mkmswain

Did I Ever Tell You This? ranges from emotional intensity to pithy insider quips, all told in an endearingly earthy style. Read my full Telegraph review here

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The Red Bird Sings: the bizarre true story of how a ghost testified in court

Posted on March 21, 2023 by mkmswain

Aoifa Fitzpatrick draws on an extraordinary 1897 trial in a debut novel that’s a blend of courtroom drama, murder mystery and feminist fable. Read my full Telegraph review here

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From the classroom to the trenches, a gay love story for the ages

Posted on March 2, 2023 by mkmswain

Alice Winn’s heartrending debut novel In Memoriam, set during the First World War, brings history wrenchingly to life. Read my full Telegraph review here

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A Wild and True Relation by Kim Sherwood: George Eliot meets Dickens in a literary treasure hunt

Posted on January 26, 2023 by mkmswain

A novel that begins as a swashbuckling tale about smugglers swerves into a smart study of women sidelined by literary history. Read my full Telegraph review here

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BookTok superstar Colleen Hoover has sold 20 million novels – but does she glamourise trauma?

Posted on October 17, 2022 by mkmswain

Her latest novel It Starts With Us is a troubling blend – and pure fan service. Read my full Telegraph review here

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A Street Shaken by Light review

Posted on October 14, 2022 by mkmswain

A swashbuckling historical epic – by John Buchan’s grandson. Read my full Telegraph review here

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The Night Ship review

Posted on July 24, 2022 by mkmswain

The fascinating true story of the Batavia’s shipwreck should make for a riveting novel. Unfortunately, this isn’t it. Read my full Telegraph review here

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Will this novel do for Joan of Arc what Wolf Hall did for Thomas Cromwell?

Posted on June 24, 2022 by mkmswain

Katherine J Chen’s fresh and enthralling novel Joan reimagines the servant girl who took on the English as a hardscrabble survivor. Read my full Telegraph review here

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Dark Earth review

Posted on June 20, 2022 by mkmswain

Magic in the ghostly rubble of 6th-century London. Read my full Telegraph review here

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Agatha Christie’s secret life as a romance novelist

Posted on June 2, 2022 by mkmswain

Hiding under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, Christie wrote stories that reflected the pain of her private life. Read my full Telegraph article here

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