Restrain

Shuggie Bain is a beautifully written, poignant account of a Glaswegian family and their struggles through poverty, family breakdown, alcoholism, and community divisiveness. In a society where misery and despair circle like vultures, after years of economic assault from a Thatcher government on working-class people, the Bain family’s own story…

Troubled

It is a unique reading experience with Fredrik Backman, and it often takes a few chapters to appreciate a special journey is underway. Sometimes the humour and dialogue feel unusual but once into the novel, his turn of phrase becomes entertaining and revealing of the characters.

Anxious People, like the…

Rebuilding

A beautifully written story that flows through ravaged loss, desolation, resilience, hope, and the promise of a future with love and peace. The Phone Box at the End of the World by Laura Imai Messina is a book that gently enriches the soul and beats with a loving serenity.

The harrowing aftermath…

“It wouldn’t make for sanity would it, living with the devil.”― Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca

From the moment I began this enigmatic story, I felt as if I were a naughty houseguest who had slipped into a closed room to peek at someone’s diary. It was wicked and forbidden, so of…

Disposition

Julian Barnes’ writing in this short novel speaks loudly in an often quiet reflective allegory of memory and loss. Overtly philosophical, Tony Webster, tells of his youth as a schoolboy, with two old friends Alex and Colin, and the new kid, Adrian Finn. How their ideological sense of the…