The Midnight Library is an engaging and unusual story in its narrative structure and in the way it combines philosophical discussion with humour and contemporary dialogue. An extraordinary book for extraordinary times it examines choices and how the main character, Nora Seed, could have had different lives if she had made different choices. It has been serialised for Radio Four and highly acclaimed as a Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction 2020.
As we look back on 2020 and the year that life changed for the world , we look forward to what this new year brings.
Crime after Crime, with a foreword by Stephen Leather, is a collection of short stories from several different writers with crime at the centre of the tales. Each story is different in content and tone. Dark crimes with twists in the ending these tales are sure to keep the reader thinking.
Richard Osman’s debut crime novel is a whodunnit with many plot twists and a charm reminiscent of classic crime fiction. A retirement home is the unusual setting for this story. The residents work in parallel with the police to solve two murders.
A true love story set in the Holocaust, The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris is a moving story of bravery and endurance against the odds. Compelling, unforgettable and uplifting, the life of Lale Sololov is the story of a survivor.
Jan is delighted to have four of her poems published in the latest issue of Sarasvati. Many thanks to Editor Dawn Bauling at Indigo Dreams Publishing for selecting them.
We’ve been talking this week about rejections and how to deal with them. Rejection is part of the process on the road to publication so we’ve got some thoughts about that.
Those Who Know is Alis Hawkins’ third novel in the historical crime series set in nineteenth century West Wales. The story concerns political hustings for Harry Probert-Lloyd to secure the coroner’s post, which he currently holds on a temporary basis, and an investigation into the death of a schoolteacher, Nicholas Rowland. Both events are, ultimately, integrally tied together, as the threads of the plot unfold.
Goby Koppel’s debut novel, Reparation, is a story with many different elements. It is a story of conflicting issues and the struggle to deal with love and loss. Justice is seen in the end, but it does not come with ease. Balancing the story of wartime Hungary and a crime in the Hasidic community this is an ambitious tale but told with proficiency.
Jan’s flash fiction story, Two Tattoos, was long listed for the October Furious Fiction competition.
