London Falling —book review

London Falling, by Patrick Radden Keefe

Hard not to have The Clash in your head when reading this. Their iconic London Calling song was written some 30 years earlier, but I feel the same sense of urgency and high stakes: London is drowning / And I, I live by the river.

Radden Keefe’s London Falling from the outside looks like a cleverly constructed and wildly imaginative crime novel but in fact, is a meticulously researched and impeccable referenced true story of the Russian-financed underworld in London and a boy who gets sucked in.

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Alias Grace – book review

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

Wow. This is a hell of a book. Designed to throw you off balance and make you think, chapter after dense chapter of revelations that leave you uncomfortably challenging your assumptions and prejudices. Those weird Victorians and their strange ‘scientific’ beliefs – right on the cusp of modern thinking and at the same time waaay back in the Dark Ages. Well? Do you believe that sweet Grace Marks brutally murdered her master and the housekeeper?

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The Night She Fell–book review

The Night She Fell, by Eileen Merriman

Eileen Merriman is delightful. I shared accommodation with her at a book festival last year and we sat by the fire in the evenings drinking wine and chatting about writing, YA books, families, life. I should have locked my door.

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