THE PLOT: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent is about a woman sentenced to death in 1800’s Iceland. Agnes Magnusdottir has grown up as a maidservant in numerous farms in a northern, rural valley. A bastard child, she is abandoned by … Continue reading Review: Burial Rites
THE PLOT: Mr Loverman by Bernadine Evaristo is about 74-year-old Barrington Jedidiah Walker (Barry). Despite moving from Antigua to Hackney with his young wife in the 1950’s, he’s still full of energy and fond of the London nightlife (much to … Continue reading Review: Mr Loverman
THE PLOT: Lullaby by Leïla Slimani is about a nanny living in Paris. The novel starts with the nanny, Louise, having murdered the two young children she is paid to look after. It then goes backwards in time to explain … Continue reading Review: Lullaby
THE PLOT: Intimations by Zadie Smith is a collection of essays written in the early months of lockdown. A response to the global Covid-19 crisis, she explores her feelings prompted by the pandemic and touches on Black Lives Matter. RATING: … Continue reading Review: Intimations
THE PLOT: The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré is about a fourteen-year-old girl in Nigeria. The protagonist, Adunni, dreams of going to school but is trapped in her small village by poverty. After the death of her … Continue reading Review: The Girl with the Louding Voice
THE PLOT: The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah is about an alt-right shooter who attacks a Muslim school in the U.S.. While the school principal, Afaf, is trapped in a closet, we travel back in time to her … Continue reading Review: The Beauty of Your Face
THE PLOT: I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing-Brown is part-memoir, part-essay about racism in the U.S.A. It details Austin’s encounters with racism while growing up and reflects on systemic racism and attempts … Continue reading Review: I’m Still Here
THE PLOT: Broadwater by Jac Shreeves-Lee is a collection of interconnected short stories set on the Broadwater Farm housing estate in Tottenham. An area with a lot of black residents, Broadwater is often stereotyped as ‘rough’. The IRL community is … Continue reading Review: Broadwater
THE PLOT: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys is a retelling of Jane Eyre from the point of view of Mr Rochester’s first wife – the mad woman in the attic. Set in Jamaica in the 1830’s, it starts with … Continue reading Review: Wide Sargasso Sea
THE PLOT: American Street by Ibi Zoboi is about sixteen-year-old Fabiola who immigrates from Haiti to the U.S. with her mother. After her mother is stopped at the airport, Fabiola lives with her cousins in Detroit while trying to get … Continue reading Review: American Street
