Category Archives: Books in English

Ethel by Helen Mort- the biography of countryside pioneer Ethel Haythornthwaite

Posted on May 16, 2024 by mandywight

If Ethel Haythornthwaite isn’t yet a household name, then she really should be. She was the woman who, in 1924, gathered together a group of Sheffielders that went on to co-found the CPRE—the Campaign to Protect Rural England. After the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books in English, Nature Writing, Uncategorized, Writers from Derbyshire and Sheffield | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Black Car Burning by Helen Mort

Posted on May 13, 2024 by mandywight

The title might make you think it’s a novel about an urban riot, but in fact Black Car Burning is the name of a challenging climb in the Peak District, just outside Sheffield. You wouldn’t be wrong in making that … Continue reading →

Posted in Books in English, Nature Writing, Uncategorized, Writers from Derbyshire and Sheffield | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Magnificent Rebels-The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self by Andrea Wulf.

Posted on January 13, 2024 by mandywight

Andrea Wulf has written a terrific book about the writers, thinkers and philosophers based in the German town of Jena at the end of the 18th century. From around 1794, for a decade or so, these brilliant and creative thinkers … Continue reading →

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Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry

Posted on September 26, 2023 by mandywight

In Old God’s Time, long listed for the 2023 Booker Prize, Sebastian Barry comes back to contemporary Ireland, having set his two previous novels, Days without End and A Thousand Moons, in 19th century America. The novel is set in … Continue reading →

Posted in Books in English, Ireland | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy

Posted on June 23, 2023 by mandywight

I was moved by Louise Kennedy’s compelling début novel Trespasses, shortlisted for the Women’s Prize 2023. Set on the edge of Belfast in the 1970s, it’s a love story, but also a story of the Troubles: how sectarianism and violence … Continue reading →

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Red Thread- On Mazes and Labyrinths by Charlotte Higgins.

Posted on May 3, 2023 by mandywight

I hadn’t set out to read a book on labyrinths, but last summer, on a trip to Hampton Court, I was quite disturbed by being unable to find the centre of the maze. Returning to the entrance, I was ready … Continue reading →

Posted in Books in English, Classical World | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski

Posted on March 22, 2023 by mandywight

I was really moved by this novel set in communist Poland of 1980. It’s the story of Ludwik and Janusz who meet and fall in love at a youth work camp the summer after graduation. When the camp ends they … Continue reading →

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Lessons by Ian McEwan

Posted on February 22, 2023 by mandywight

In Lessons, Ian McEwan’s latest novel, he sets out to describe the whole life of one man, Roland Baines, born around 1949. The events in his individual life are mapped against a broader historical picture, starting with Suez, moving on … Continue reading →

Posted in Books in English, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Diary of an Invasion by Andrey Kurkov

Posted on February 7, 2023 by mandywight

It seems like a good time to be reading this account of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the one year anniversary approaching, on February 24th. Andrey Kurkov, a novelist well-known outside Ukraine, ( Death of a Penguin, Grey Bees) … Continue reading →

Posted in Books in English, Books on Ukraine, History, Memoir, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

The Country of Others-Le Pays des Autres- by Leila Slimani, English translation by Sam Taylor.

Posted on January 12, 2023 by mandywight

This is the story of Mathilde, a young French woman from Alsace, and Amine, a Moroccan soldier fighting for the French in World War Two. They meet, fall in love and marry in France, then move back to Morocco in … Continue reading →

Posted in Books in English, Books in French | Tagged , , | 1 Comment