In her work as a journalist, Sara Wheeler has often inhabited “borderlands of turbulence and uncertainty”, and travelled into dangerous territory. Readers familiar with Catherine Bush's earlier novels might recall Arcadia from Rules of Engagement, her fascination with war and violence, and the question that haunts her: “What would you be willing
This is from Gabriel's neighbour, Giuditta. "One day Gabriel opened up more than usual and told me he had four sons. From four different women. In four different countries." The reader wonders if perhaps he opened up more to her than to anyone; Gabriel is a cipher, someone the reader knows
Three for three: I've read all three of Stacey May Fowles' novels straight-through. It just happened. But although it was true of Be Good and Fear of Fighting, I was prepared to take my time with Infidelity, an emotionally exhausting subject. But, then, it happened again. Perhaps it simply comes down
In searching for an image for the last story discussed here, "A Wilderness Station", I came upon a wonderfully long and chatty Paris Review interview with Alice Munro.* Something she says about her reading came to mind when I had finished "Spaceships Have Landed". "Reading was my life really until
Even before I met Nora, the narrator of The Woman Upstairs, I had already brushed up against talk of her anger. Knopf - Random House, 2013 First, Claire Messud's NPR interview includes the author reading the novel's opening paragraphs. (That's the now-oft-quoted rant, which begins with "I'm a
