Published by Signet, Vintage and Berkley Books, 1959, 144 pages. “What happens to a dream deferred?Does it dry upLike a raisin in the sun?”–Langston Hughes This is a powerful play about an African-American family trying to realize their dreams in spite of the odds stacked against them. At the centre of the play is the …
Following Unusual Paths: Interview with Nick Hunt
Nick Hunt is an author from the UK. His books include Outlandish; Where the Wild Winds Are; Walking the Woods and the Water; The Parakeeting of London; and Loss Soup and Other Stories. His debut novel Red Smoking Mirror will be published in July 2023. Walking the Woods and the Water and Where the Wild …
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My Secret Brexit Diary—A Glorious Illusion: Michel Barnier
Translated from French by Robin MackayPublished by Polity Press, 2021, 450 pages. Original version published in 2021. In a nation-wide referendum on 23 June 2016, the British voted, by a slim majority, to leave the European Union. The process of leaving the EU was long-drawn-out and complicated. Like many people outside the UK, I developed …
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The Peculiarities: David Liss
Published by Tachyon Publications, 2021, 336 pages. London, the turn of the 20th century. A pervasive fog covers the city, and strange things are happening, known as “the Peculiarities”. Women are giving birth to litters of rabbits, people are transforming into trees and animals, and vicious, not-quite-human Elegants are prowling the streets. The Peculiarities also …
Black Lion—Alive in the Wilderness: Sicelo Mbatha with Bridget Pitt
Published by Jonathan Ball Publishers, 2021, 256 pages. “I am not a lion whisperer. I am an ordinary wilderness guide who has simply grasped some small part of the great wisdom of wild animals and the wilderness, and learnt a little about how to share this with other humans. As a guide, I share wild …
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The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida: Shehan Karunatilaka
Published by Sort of Books, 2022, 368 pages. “All stories are recycled and all stories are unfair. Many get luck, and many get misery. Many are born to homes with books, many grow up in the swamps of war. In the end, all becomes dust. All stories conclude with a fade to black.” Maali Almeida, …
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Elena Knows: Claudia Piñeiro
Translated from Spanish by Frances RiddlePublished by Charco Press, 2021, 220 pages. Original version published in 2007. “She has to take the train into the city at ten o’clock...right after the medication has managed to persuade her body to follow her brain’s orders.” Elena is a woman with advanced Parkinson’s. Her daughter Rita was found …
Travelling the World: A Woman’s Perspective
Photo: GaudiLab via Shutterstock For the past nine years, I have been reviewing travel books by women for the website Women on the Road. When I first started, I realized that almost all the travel books I had read until then were by men. For me, this opened up an entire new world of incredible …
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The Book of Joy—Lasting Happiness in a Changing World: His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu with Douglas Abrams
Published by Hutchinson, 2016, 368 pages. “No dark fate determines the future. We do. Each day and each moment, we are able to create and re-create our lives and the very quality of human life on our planet. This is the power we wield. ... “We are sharing what two friends, from very different worlds, …
My Bones and My Flute—A Ghost Story in the Old-Fashioned Manner: Edgar Mittelholzer
Published by Peepal Tree, 1955, 173 pages. “In this instant my trance of introspection vanished. I knew it was actually happening. I stood and listened. There could be no doubt. It had nothing of the imaginary about it. It was a flute, clear, leisurely, distant. A tuneless, wandering trickle of treble notes coming from out …
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