Servitude
Infants of the Brush: A Chimney Sweep’s Story is a polished, skilfully written book, which is illuminating, riveting and profoundly heart-breaking. A.M. Watson recreates the atmospheric world of 1720s London in a similar style as Charles Dickens. The similarity is reinforced regarding children that eked out a living under harsh…
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In order to really appreciate A Divided Life, you would have to have some awareness of the spy scandal that rocked the heart of the British establishment in the 1950’s, referred to as the Cambridge Spies, as they all attended Cambridge University. What was so shocking was that those involved…
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Foreboding
“I still remember the day my father took me to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for the first time. It was the early summer of 1945, … ‘Daniel you mustn’t tell anyone what you’re about to see today’ my father warned.”
The wonderful opening line that sets the scene for…
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Authentic
Poetry is the ultimate literary work where the importance of precisely and delicately positioning words creates the vivid images and deep emotions that take our breath away. In those concise pieces of work, you can feel your heart break, experience joy, or torture yourself with a loss. The price…
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Sinister
The Winters is an audacious book, in that it grabs very explicitly the iconic story Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier, in both hands and writes a bold new modern-day retelling of Max Winter and his new wife, following the death of his first wife Rebecca (or Rebekah in this…
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Adaptability
Aminatta Forna doesn’t just write stories to captivate us for a few hours, she challenges us to think about our homogeneity with the world and how we share this world with other living beings. She invites us to consider our relationships with others, both at a personal and societal…
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Cluedunit
The Tokyo Zodiac Murders is a unique and intriguing murder mystery set in the same vein as a Sherlock Holmes mystery. The master and the assistant, the master coaching the assistant through the clues while never totally revealing his thoughts until the end. The genre belongs to the Japanese ‘honkaku’ subgenre…
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Artificial
The Unfortunate Expiration of Mr. David S Sparks is a thought-provoking and unpredictable search for answers amidst a post-apocalyptic world that has witnessed devastation from chemical warfare. The surviving factions have deep divisions and a polarised belief of what life and society’s recovery should look like. Within this environment, David…
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Closure
There is something educational, captivating and very endearing in listening to an elderly person reflect on the events and experiences they witnessed during their life, especially through eventful times. When the writing is as good as Juliet Conlin’s, you get a front-row view into the life of Alfred Warner….
Founder of The Reading Desk, supporting readers, authors, publishers and book industry. Top Reviewer on Amazon, Goodreads, and NetGalley peter@thereadingdesk.com
