The boredom and bliss of a long read
The word is that technology is shortening our attention spans. Like the fungus that invades the minds of the infected…
Good bye Hilary Mantel, and all of the books you might have written
I was shocked to hear last night that Hilary Mantel had died, aged 70. I had read and adored Mantel's…
My reading highlights of the first half of 2021
Like last year, when it took me months to plough through The Brothers Karamazov, this year my reading has been…
I like big books and I can not lie
There has been a lot of chatter about big books since the release of Hilary Mantel’s hugely anticipated and physically…
A decade is a long time in life and literature
A lot can happen in 10 years. For me, there have been some big changes, including marriage and three kids,…
Do historical fiction writers have an obligation to the truth?
The rules of writing historical fiction are notoriously murky. Just how factual does the story need to be if it…
