This new short book of stories is authored by the writer known as ‘Philologus’, published and obtainable only from Hodge. Illustrations by Ceri Leeder (here), design by Rachel Lawston (lawstondesign here). Can a teacher from the first century AD have anything to say to us in the twenty-first? The author of The Wisdom of Yakob… Read More

What indeed are ‘friends’? When Frances and Bobbi take up with an older couple, also involved in the Dublin arts scene, they probably don’t realise they’re stepping into deep water…

Want to know how Jenny and Daze became step sisters? Read the story of how Jenny attempts to show off her Mum’s work on a hot summer afternoon… go to ‘read an extract’ And here’s a picture of how Daze might’ve looked back then, angry with new step-mum Caroline soon after this, for giving her… Read More

Stranger at St Brides is the newest book by my writer friend Debbie Young, and if you’re looking to relax, smile, and feel good, this is the book to pick for your next read. Ironically, I completed reading the story sitting in the garden, under the parasol, in something like 33 degrees and sunshine (I… Read More

Normal People by Sally Rooney – an in-depth review of the novel which became the TV series…find it here

Bird Summons – Mari’s latest read – a remarkable combination of poetry and social insights from Scottish based Egyptian/Sudanese author Leila Aboulela… read more at the Mari’s Book Club page –

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‘Living systems are sensitive to very small changes…’ so says Dr Ovid Byron, lead scientist of a group investigating the strange appearance of pretty much the whole population of Monarch butterflies to a farming area of the Appalachians in Tennessee, when they should have flown, as usual, to overwinter in Mexico. It’s fiction, but its… Read More

Friendly, feel-good, and familiar (if you’ve already caught up with Debbie Young’s Wendlebury Barrow stories…) a mini-novel about the charity-focussed doings of the villagers: will they achieve helping the homeless to keep warm, without a mishap? Read on at the Mari’s Book Club page…here

Do your inanimate Things frustrate, challenge, and defy you? Does you computer perform nasty tricks, do your keys lose themselves, has your futon let you down? Find my next monthly contribution to the Authors Electric group blog And while you’re there, take a browse around at the other authors’ contributions…