Month: October 2021

Review: Case Study

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  A playful and entertaining book, from the author of the 2016 award-winning novel His Bloody Project. Having previously discovered a controversial but fascinating book by the disgraced yet extraordinary psychotherapist Collins Braithwaite, the author (ie Macrae Burnet) is offered some contemporary notebooks which are apparently the diary of a young woman who was determined to expose the therapist for causing the suicide of her sister. The notebooks reveal a sadly naïve young woman with a determination to avenge her … Read more

A Full Stable Of Unicorns

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  The unicorns in Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre’s hilarious new book Kevin vs The Unicorns are a pretty snobby bunch. And as some of the most noble mythical creatures around with a history going back to the time of Ancient Greece, symbolic of purity and grace, they might well get a bit big-headed. However, unicorns aren’t always such arrogant creatures…and we thought it was only fair to highlight below some of the other unicorns in recent children’s books. And … Read more

Review: The Inseparables

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  In English for the first time, this story of love and friendship resonates far more deeply than expected. When a striking young girl enters her school, Sylvie is immediately drawn to her. Andree is clever, confident and everything that Sylvie wishes to be. Yet as they grow older, their relationship changes and what began as simple infatuation unfolds into something deeper, which will ultimately end in tragedy. This, Simone de Beauvoir’s ‘lost’ novel from 1954, hasn’t seen an English … Read more

Reeve And McIntyre Visit The Bookery!

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We were delighted to welcome Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre to The Bookery last week! On September 22nd, Sarah visited nearly 600 children with her books Grumpycorn and Don’t Call Me Grumpycorn. Sarah is not only the well-known author of picture books for children, she is also the designer of our logo and the lettering on the front of our shop! She went to Broadclyst in Exeter to talk to 180 children (aged 4-7) and was joined by the three … Read more

Review: Matrix

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  Female ambition and empowerment wrapped up in a 12th Century tale of nuns, by the hit author of Fates And Furies. “Omnia Bene!” (translation: “All is well!”) At 17, Marie is sent to a decrepit abbey (having been banished from court by mighty Queen Eleanor) to become a nun and devote herself to God. She rails against her fate but cannot escape and then, despite her anger and frustration, she understands she can make a difference. She organises, cajoles … Read more

National Poetry Day 2021

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To mark National Poetry Day 2021 we caught up with Jane Feaver, Editorial Manager of Poetry at Faber… Can you tell us what you’ve been up to recently? I’ve just started back in a job I last did twenty years ago in the poetry department of Faber and Faber. It’s an exciting time to be back, reconnecting with familiar faces and making connections with new. The current publishing schedule represents this mix of old and new, with a second collection … Read more

Review: Crossroads

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  A return to form for Jonathan Franzen in this addictive (and huge) novel. Set at the beginning of the changing winds of the 1970s, pastor and patriarch Russ Hilderbrand is struggling to hold the strands of his life together. His disgrace at work, his shaky marriage, his relationship with his unruly kids and his own self-doubt all add up to trouble as Christmas looms over the horizon. Following these events, the secrets and lies of the Hilderbrand family are … Read more

Short Cuts

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The Bookery’s Cliff found himself with reader’s block in 2020 – how did he cure it? Last year was not a normal year, I think we can all agree. Amidst chaos and change, I found myself with…time on my hands. And, in common with many book lovers, I thought that a long fallow period would allow me to perhaps attack some of those long and difficult doorstops which had been stacking up on the pile just out of my eyeline. … Read more

Review: Medusa

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  You’ve probably heard of her – the hideous Gorgon with snakes for hair who turns all that look at her to stone. But this brilliant new Young Adult novel from Jessie Burton (author of The Miniaturist) compels us to look again.  ‘You should be careful who tells your story’, Medusa warns us. In this breath-taking and powerful reclaiming of the ancient Greek myth, Medusa finally tells her own story.  18-year-old Medusa lives on a lonely but beautiful island, with her Gorgon sisters, … Read more