Alain Claude Sulzer: A Perfect Waiter
The role of a waiter is to perform unseen, to serve people and, barring the occasional nod or small talk, to be both discrete and unmemorable. They must give nothing…
R.B. Russell: Fifty Forgotten Books
Fifty Forgotten Books (2022) by R.B. Russell is as enjoyable as browsing in a dusty old book shop on a rainy day. Much of the book mirrors that experience, as…
Rita Bullwinkel: Headshot
Headshot (2024) is Rita Bullwinkel’s first novel, following on from her 2022 collection, Belly Up. It’s an exciting, somewhat experimental tale delivered in the structure of a boxing tournament for…
Sian Northey: This House
The titular abode of Sian Northey’s This House (2011, tr: Susan Walton, 2024) is Nant yr Aur, a solitary cottage somewhere in rural North Wales. As a young girl, Anna…
Ramsey Campbell: Demons by Daylight
Demons by Daylight (1973) was Ramsey Campbell’s second collection of short stories, following on from The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants (1964). Truth be told, I’ve never…
Mark Valentine: Lost Estates
Mark Valentine’s collection of short stories, Lost Estates (2024) is bookended by two long tales that begin with journeys through an England abundant in history and arcana and ultimately end…
Jon Fosse: Boathouse
“I don’t go out anymore, a restlessness has come over me, and I don’t go out.” is how Baard, the narrator of Jon Fosse’s Boathouse (1989, tr: May-Brit Akerholt, 2017),…
Colin MacIntyre: When the Needle Drops
Musicians penning novels is nothing new. Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave have done it to considerable acclaim. Morrissey’s “unpolished turd” took a beating while Pete Townshend’s recent effort was seen…
Saraid de Silva: Amma
Amma (2024) by Saraid de Silva is a time-hopping, peripatetic debut novel that explores the matrilineal line of a single family over three generations. Though it chronologically runs from 1951…
Gemma Amor: The Folly
Morgan never believed her father killed her mother. She spent the last six years of her life actively campaigning for his release, which eventually resulted in a mistrial ruling and…