The Girl Who Died. Ragnar Jonasson

17 Mar 202116 Mar 2021

3.5 stars for this chilling tale by Ragnar Jonasson, translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb. Icelandic writer Ragnar Jonasson excels in writing about lonely people in isolated settings. This…

Fools and Mortals. Bernard Cromwell

29 Mar 201829 Mar 2018

Last week, I went to see National Theatre's performance of Julius Caesar, not, alas, at The Bridge Theatre in London but much more simply and cheaply at its live broadcast…

The Darkness. Ragnar Jonasson

15 Mar 20182 Mar 2018

I was fortunate enough to win an ARC of this book in a twitter giveaway (thank you so much, lovely Penguin people!). The arrival of The Darkness through the post…

Vikings in 30 Seconds. Philip Steele

14 Feb 201814 Feb 2018

5 stars for this brilliantly designed history book for children. Philip Steele's Vikings in 30 Seconds is ideal for ages 8 - 12 years but I think it is useful…

Poverty Safari. Darren McGarvey

19 Jan 20188 Feb 2018

4 stars for this excellent, emotionally driven look at the effects of systemic poverty, that is also an unflinching account of the writer's difficult childhood. There is a sense that…

Who God Says You Are: A Christian understanding of identity. Klyne R Snodgrass

18 Jan 201818 Jan 2018

5 stars for this important book. I have been grappling with Who God Says You Are for months. Its purpose is to help readers understand who we are and who…

The Alphabet of Heart’s Desire. Brian Keaney

14 Dec 20178 Feb 2018

4 stars for this historical fiction. The Alphabet of Heart's Desire is an interesting and well-written work of historical fiction centring on three characters: child prostitute Anne, Tuah who was…

Four Birds of Noah’s Ark. Thomas Dekker

23 Nov 20176 Sep 2017

5 stars for this timeless book of prayers. This book of prayers was written over 400 years ago by playwright Thomas Dekker and edited for this new edition by Robert…

Dr Jekyll and Mr Seek. Anthony O’Neill

11 Sep 2017

4 stars for this sequel to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, the 1886 Gothic novella by Robert Louis Stevenson. Mr Seek refers to a quote in Dr Jekyll and Mr…

Anxious for Nothing. Max Lucado

6 Sep 2017

4 stars for this brief and simple read about 'Finding Calm in a Chaotic World'. Usefully, the main text of the book is followed by a full listing of all…