Nicholas Ruddock's The Parabolist Doubleday, 2010 It's ironic. One of the women in Nicholas Ruddock's novel is thinking about the heroines of Emma Bovary and Anna Karenina. "Look at all those passionate women, the ones in novels, the ones who wore their hearts on their sleeves," she says. "They all
Farzana Doctor's Stealing Nasreen Inanna Publications, 2007 This debut novel opens with an introduction to Shaffiq, a member of the cleaning staff, working the night shift, pulling a photograph torn in two from the garbage can he is emptying. He is fascinated by "clues and curiosities", shares them with his
You might remember that I've been sampling books from Indie presses that have been shortlisted for this year's ReLit Awards. Not just novels, but short stories, even poetry (which is adventurous for me). For a month of Sundays (at least), I'm Buried in ReLit Print. Krakow Melt, Daniel Allen Cox (Arsenal Pulp) Sample:
Mary Horlock's The Book of Lies HarperCollins, 2011 Did you know that there were Nazi concentration camps on British soil during the Second World War? I didn’t, but having read The Book of Lies, I now know. There were four of them actually. And it’s highly appropriate that Cat be
Tomson Highway's Kiss of the Fur Queen Doubleday 1998 It’s February and Abraham Okimasis is on a sled pulled by eight huskies, racing to the finish line in northern Manitoba. That’s the opening scene of Tomson Highway’s first novel, Kiss of the Fur Queen. The reader, however, receives mixed messages
