Book of the Week: ‘The Thing Around Your Neck’
The Thing Around Your NeckChimimanda Ngozi Adichie2009, 300 pagesFiction (short stories) The Thing Around Your Neck is a collection of 12 stories by Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie, the influential Nigerian author of Purple Hibiscus (2003), Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) and Americanah (2013). The trials and tribulations of otherness are continually investigated throughout Adichie’s works, and this collection makes no exception.Set variously in...
Book of the Week: ‘The Toymakers’
The ToymakersRobert Dinsdale2018, 468 pagesAdult fantasy fiction Papa Jack’s Emporium is the magical toy store of everyone’s dreams. It opens each year on the day of the first frost in London, and closes when the first snowdrop blossoms. The Emporium is also a family: Papa Jack and his sons, Kaspar and Emil, who are close in age and intensely competitive in their toy-making. When a runaway girl, Cathy, applies for work on Opening Day...
Book of the Week: ‘Beyond the Bright Sea’
Beyond the Bright Sea Lauren Wolk 2017, 283 pages Children’s fiction (over 10 years old) Crow is a 12-year-old girl who lives on a speck of land off Cuttyhunk Island, between Buzzard’s Bay and Vineyard Sound, Mass. How she got there is a familiar story to her: she was washed up by the ocean in an otherwise empty skiff and taken in by Osh, an artist who lived alone on that tiny islet. Osh kept her and raised her, with the help of their...
Book of the Week: ‘Severance’
Severance Ling Ma 2018, 304 pages Adult fiction Severance, the debut novel of Chinese-born American Ling Ma, is hard to classify. Its premise is pretty straightforward. Shen Fever rapidly takes over the world, turning almost everyone in its path into what can best be described as a zombie. The infected mindlessly participate in the same action over and over again until death takes them. Millennial workaholic Candace Chen seems to...
Book of the Week: ‘The Glass Room’
The Glass RoomAnn Cleeves2012, 374 pagesFiction/mystery Irascible Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope rather likes her “hippie” neighbors, especially Joanna. And that’s saying something, as Vera doesn’t often get along with people. Joanna disappears, and her partner asks for Vera’s help in finding her. When Vera does find her, there’s been a murder. A famous book reviewer was knifed in the glass room, or conservatory, at a writer’s...
