Book Reviews 2023 | Roseland Online

Book reviews – December 2023 – Sallie Eden – The Church Mice at Christmas

The Church Mice at Christmas by Graham Oakley Published by Templar books Reissued to mark 40 years since it was first published, this book remains one of my favourite children’s Christmas stories...

Book reviews – December 2023 – Sallie Eden – The Drowned

The Drowned by David Arrowsmith and Christina Gustavson Published, October 2023 I’m hooked on the sort of Scandi noir dramas that are so popular these days and, having really enjoyed David Arrowsmith’s debut novel (Corona, reviewed...

Book reviews – November 2023 – Sallie Eden – Murder in the Family

Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter Published by Harper Collins, 2023 A highly original format coupled with a clever plot, this book is more complex than anything I’ve read since I...

Book reviews – November 2023 – Sallie Eden – A Little Life

A Little Life By Hanya Yanagihara Published by Picador Shortlisted for the Man Booker prize and called ‘brilliant’, ‘magical’, ‘absorbing’ and ‘engrossing’ by various critics, this is the story of four ambitious and, frankly,...

Book reviews – October 2023 – Sallie Eden – Pyramid of Lies

Pyramid of Lies by Duncan Mavin Published in paperback by Pan Books , 2023 After saying how fascinating I found ‘Blood Money’, the story of Elizabeth Holmes and the Theranos scandal, a friend recommended...

Book reviews – October 2023 – Sallie Eden – The Twist of a Knife

The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz Published in paperback by Penguin, 2023 The author writes of his experience of being accused of killing a theatre critic who didn’t like a...

Book reviews – September 2023 – Sallie Eden – I Need That Friend

I Need That Friend by Peter Hargreaves Available on Kindle Scribe Some things don’t change; in my Writers Talking column back in June 2019, I wrote that the character in one...

Writers Talking – September 2023 – Sallie Eden

Writers Talking is back after a bit of a break. In the new series our book reviewer Sallie Eden talks to Peter Graystone, whose book ‘All’s Well That Ends Well’ was reviewed...

Book Reviews – September 2023 – Sallie Eden – A Thoroughly Mischievous Person

A Thoroughly Mischievous Person: The Other Arthur Ransome by Alan Kennedy Published by The Lutterworth Press Who could resist at least glancing at a book with that title. And, for the fans of Swallows and Amazons...

Book Reviews – August 2023 – Sallie Eden – Marple

Marple: Twelve new stories Published in paperback by Harper Collins, June 2023 The clue is in the title: stories, according to the Guardian review, “reimagining” Miss Marple “from a fresh perspective”. Descriptions so often...