The last few weeks have been a bag of mixed blessings; the rough with the smooth, the yin with the yang (insert your own cliché here). Still raw from the passing of our beloved old dog Rodney, after new year the Boyf and I returned to the shelter Rodney came from, hoping to adopt another […]
Simon Wan’s Love and a Dozen Roast Potatoes is an autobiography with a fresh take. Dates, names and places are unimportant; instead the author takes an acerbic yomp (or more of a techno-twitch) through the decades, luxuriating in the 90s and their deeply shallow proclivities. It’s the story of a quest for true love in […]
It’s a fun game (go on, admit it) and one I am no stranger to. Oddly enough, Seeking Eden is already a fully cast three-part drama on ITV, complete with amusing Sainsbury’s idents at ten minute intervals – at least it is in my head. After the credits have rolled (my name all over them […]
The thing I’ve been dreading all year happened yesterday; our adored Jack Russell Rodney died. He was very old (16 and a half) and his life was, for the most part, happy and carefree. We helped him to die with serenity by asking our caring vet to euthanize him because he’d become very ill and […]
For many years I’ve been a huge fan of the British playwright and film director Mike Leigh. My fascination with his work spiked in the 90s when his filmmaking was most prolific. Relationship dramas such as Life is Sweet, Naked, Secrets & Lies and Career Girls depicted the daily conflicts of ordinary people with a […]
I have just read and thoroughly enjoyed PJ Whiteley’s Close of Play. Set in the late 90s, there are dual themes running here: First to emerge is our hero Brian Clarke’s devotion to cricket (the clue is in the title). Brian describes himself as ‘old school’ and is well aware that his middle-aged, middle-class, middle-England […]
Thomas Hocknell’s debut novel The Life Assistance Agency skilfully combines two genres. It’s an adventure thriller; tense, suspenseful and threat-laden with twists a plenty, but the supernatural theme of the book means that it will also appeal to lovers of adult magic and fantasy. The barest bones of the plot are that Ben Furguson-Cripps, a […]
Eva Jordan’s debut novel 183 Times a Year is the story of beleaguered mum Lizzie and angst-ridden teenage daughter Cassie’s relationship and their chaotic ‘blended’ family. Thanks to a first person narrative by Lizzie and Cassie alternately, we get both sides of the story. There is never any confusion about who’s talking as the two […]
But I can’t stop dancing. Or smiling. I’ve known for a few weeks that my first novel is to be published next year by the awesome Urbane Publications, led by the inimitable Matthew Smith. I could not be more thrilled but keeping the news a secret has been a real challenge. Finding a good home […]
This novel is an intriguing and thought-provoking read. From the beginning it’s like being followed by a blowing crisp packet; you know there is something behind you, and don’t know whether to feel scared or not. The opening premise is the disappearance of Jimmy, husband of Kate, our main protagonist. As Kate’s life quickly unravels, […]