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I read Austerity Britain, 1945-1951 by David Kynaston over Christmas, in preparation for writing a novel set in the period. It was a fascinating read on how Britain coped in the aftermath of the Second World War. The book details

I listened to The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan a few months ago, having very much enjoyed his Malabar House series (see my blogs on City of Destruction, Midnight at Malabar House, Dying Day, The Lost Man of Bombay

I read A Family Affair by Claire Lynch in May and was shocked to discover a piece of history I knew nothing about – the removal of children from lesbian mothers in custody cases as recently as the 1990s –

I listened to the audiobook of Homecoming by one of my favourite authors Kate Morton (see my blogs on Kate Morton, The Clockmaker’s Daughter and The Lake House) in April and was utterly captivated with it from start to finish.

I started reading Kala by Colin Walsh on the flight to Northern Ireland on holiday and was gripped from page one. It is the story of four friends, one of whom, Kala, goes missing when they are teenagers. We pick

I confess that I read This House of Grief by Helen Garner because Carrie Bradshaw in And Just Like That was reading it, and if it was good enough for Carrie, it was good enough for me. It’s all the

I was recommended Kind: The Quiet Power of Kindness at Work by Graham Alcott by a wise mentor and read it over New Year and was glad to see how well it chimed with our approach at Foundations of using

I read Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson over Christmas and was captivated by its spare and lyrically-beautiful writing and the way it deals so sensitively with some very difficult issues. The protagonist is a young black man living in

I read The Missing Letters of Mrs Bright by Beth Miller in April, and really enjoyed it. It tells the story of 51-year-old Kay Bright, who has had enough of her marriage of three decades to workaholic Richard, who runs

I am a big fan of Lucy Mangan’s writing in the Guardian and have a lot in common with her, as an introvert, book-lover who would much rather be curled up in silence with a book than out at a

I read A Hundred Suns by Karin Tanabe in the dark days of January, to transport me to Vietnam of the 1930s, having loved travelling in the country around fifteen years ago, and as I always enjoy reading about this

I found The Tea Planter’s Wife by Dinah Jeffries whilst searching for books set in Sri Lanka, having had a fantastic holiday there last year and in the hope of going again next year. It is set in the hills

I read A Month in the Country by J L Carr at the start of March, after hearing it recommended as an enjoyable short read. It is set just after the First World War and, as the title suggests, follows

I read Help Wanted by Adele Waldman this spring almost in one go. It was a Barack Obama reading pick, and it didn’t disappoint. It is one of the best novels about the workplace I have ever read and a

I listened to Murder at Gulls Nest by Jess Kidd on Audible in December on the recommendation of a friend and very much enjoyed it. It introduces amateur detective Nora Breen, a recently de-robed nun, who has left her order

On my quest to read short paperback novels on my commute I was inspired by seeing someone else on the train reading Until August by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, one of my favourite authors (see my blog on One Hundred Years

I was down in Fowey for October half-term so took the opportunity to Read Readymoney Cove by Mark Butterworth, named after Fowey’s beach. It is a spy thriller set after the Second World War and revolves around the lives of

I read Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz when on holiday in Fowey in October and really enjoyed it. It’s two books in one – the murder mystery Magpie Murders: An Atticus Pund Mystery by Alan Conway, a manuscript just submitted

In anticipation of a trip to Cornwall in October half-term, I bought The A303: Highway to the Sun by Tom Fort. It is a delightfully quirky book about a road that says holiday and demands leaving at ungodly hours of

I have lately been reading about how to write crime fiction, which has been fascinating, as an avid reader of the genre. I started with The Arvon Book of Crime and Thriller Writing by Michelle Spring and Laurie R King,

In October I treated myself to the new book in the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith (see my previous blogs on the rest of the series so far: The Ink Black Heart, Lethal White, Career of Evil, The Silkworm, The Cuckoo’s Calling, Troubled Blood and