by NRB | 7 Sep 2023 | Crime Scene, Fiction |
Steeped in a sense of culture, people and place, Blood Matters is crime fiction set at the heart of a family and community. Author Renée is a towering figure in New Zealand. A legendary playwright, novelist and activist, Renée is of Māori (Ngāti Kahungunu), Irish,...
by NRB | 31 Aug 2023 | Crime Scene, Fiction |
Set in Florence in 1537, The Darkest Sin is the second novel featuring Cesare Aldo, an officer of the feared Otto di Guardia e Balia. This series currently includes The City of Vengeance and The Darkest Sin, with a third volume, Ritual of Fire, on the way. The first...
by NRB | 29 Aug 2023 | Fiction |
Benjamin Myers’ new novel is a homage to his home city of Durham and its patron saint. Award-winning British author Benjamin Myers was born in the northern English city of Durham in 1976. This is a fact to keep in mind when coming to his latest novel Cuddy,...
by NRB | 17 Aug 2023 | Fiction |
In this new novel from the author of The Forrests, a woman who appears to have it all begins to question her life choices. Therese and Claire live in the same four-storey former sewing factory once wholly owned by Therese’s husband’s family – but they have very...
by NRB | 15 Aug 2023 | Fiction |
Mexican horror movies, a Nazi occultist and dark magical powers – Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s new novel has them all. Silvia Moreno-Garcia has not yet written two books in the same genre. Though that statement may depend on how you understand genre. Her latest novel,...
by NRB | 8 Aug 2023 | Fiction |
A mother tells her daughters the story of her past – or some of it – in this new novel from the author of The Dutch House. ‘Wait, wait, wait, you wanted to be a vet?’ Maisie shakes her head. ‘You never wanted to be a vet. You never said that before.’ Maisie will begin...
by NRB | 3 Aug 2023 | Crime Scene, Fiction |
The third novel from pulp fiction aficionado Andrew Nette is a delightful, knowing nod to the genre. Following on from the enjoyable Gunshine State, Orphan Road again features Nette’s antihero Gary Chance, a survivor of military service in Afghanistan, in a new...
by NRB | 25 Jul 2023 | Fiction |
Kirsty Jagger’s debut novel is a confronting story about growing up in the worst of circumstances, and how violence and poverty can happen to anyone. Potential readers will need to take into account the author’s note at the front of this novel: This book is...
by NRB | 20 Jul 2023 | Fiction |
The latest novel from Karen Brooks brings Restoration London to life, particularly the world of its theatres and playwright Aphra Behn. Papa always said I was unnatural – that I’d too much to say for myself. He said a great many other things besides, all of which...
by NRB | 13 Jul 2023 | Fiction |
James Hynes’ new novel spins a tale from the edge of the Roman Empire. I was initially perplexed by Sparrow, a historical novel that diverges from the usual focus of significant historical personalities and events. In this captivating tale, Hynes introduces us to an...
by NRB | 6 Jul 2023 | Fiction |
Luke Rutledge’s debut novel is both a social comedy and a moving story of coming out. Luke Rutledge has written a delightful comedy of manners set against the backdrop of the 2017 marriage equality plebiscite. It opens at a cracking pace, introducing us to 26-year-old...
by NRB | 4 Jul 2023 | Fiction |
Mat Osman’s second novel swoops through a fantastical rendering of Elizabethan London. Magic, drama, theatre – and the birds: Everywhere birds. The sound hit you first: vast waterfalls of birdsong, overspilling like a treasure hoard. On first hearing it was a thick...