Ali Smith’s Autumn

Autumn, also often called ‘the first great Brexit novel’, tells the story of an extraordinary friendship: a love between Daniel, who is 101 when the books begins, and Elisabeth, who is 69 years younger. Through describing their story, moving between pre- and post-Brexit Britain, Ali Smith gives a brilliant portrayal of our current society. Those …

Rupi Kaur’s Milk and Honey

Milk and Honey is a collection of poems about, among other things, the female body, abuse, and femininity. Remarkably, this poetry collection was self-published at first, sold more than a million copies, and became a New York Times bestseller. How amazing is that?!  Milk and Honey was a poetry collection I immediately knew I wanted. …

Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair

The Eyre Affair takes place in a world where the distinction between fiction and real life is blurrier than it is in the real world. People can enter works of fiction, they can chat with Rochester and they can see Wordsworth's daffodils. And then a villain enters the scene. He's kidnapping different fictional characters and detective …

Sarah Perry’s The Essex Serpent

The Essex Serpent is a novel about the legend of a mysterious beast who eats sheep, children and whoever comes his way in the dark. Last seen in the 17th century, people now belief that it has come back. Unsurprisingly, the little town in Essex lives in great fear. Cora, a recent widow who couldn't …

William Wordsworth’s Fidelity

My mom works in a very old house, which is falling apart more and more, and she said that I could plunder the attic where many books were still being stored. So I - of course - came running and found this collection, Wordsworth's Poetical Works published in 1863. I wanted to share this poem with …

A review in pictures: The Last Unicorn

George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four tells the story of Winston Smith's life in a (for us) dystopian society. Everything, eating, working, exercising, even your thoughts if you're unlucky, is controlled by the state. They control absolutely every single thing, even the past since they, Winston is one of the writers, re-write newspaper articles and other sources so that …

Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief

In The Book Thief, Death tells the story of a German girl's life during the Second World War. He first notices the girl, named Liesel, when she steals a gravedigger's handbook during the funeral of her little brother. He later finds Liesel's own notebook and confides her story to us.  The story begins when Liesel is on …

Naomi Alderman’s The Power

The Power just WON the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction! It's high time for a review: In The Power, the whole world changes completely. For once, women are the strongest and this book tells the story of what happens next. It's a 'historical' novel set in the future, describing the consequences of women being able …

Natasha Pulley’s The Watchmaker of Filigree Street

In The Watchmaker of Filigree Street a strange, locked watch is left in Nathaniel's (or Thaniel, which he prefers) room. When bombs with the same elaborate clockwork blow up many public buildings, Thaniel has to solve the mystery and find out who made these complex bomb timers.  I picked up this novel in a secondhand shop because …