Manfred Baumann is an unassuming, middle-aged banker whose mundane existence is enlivened by his fantasies of Adèle Bedeau, the laconic waitress at his daily watering hole. A somewhat desolate figure who sits on the fringes of a small French community, Manfred’s quiet life is thrown into disarray when the object of his affection mysteriously vanishes, […]
Gone are the Leaves marks a bold departure from the Glaswegian sandwich bars, alcoholic fathers and painter-decorators that have populated Orange Prize-shortlisted author Anne Donovan’s previous novels. Set in an undefined medieval period (probably mid- or later thirteenth century, given the allusions to a brewing civil war in Scotland), it is a sweet tale of love that recalls the courtly […]
Something caught my eye in the library yesterday: a glossy new book with a quintessential American hunk gazing out at me, the words ‘CREATED BY L.J. SMITH’ emblazoned across the cover. I was confused. The Temptation – as this shiny appeal to teenage lust was entitled – seemed to be a new addition to The […]
We need necessary books, books we can read the day after a funeral, when we have no tears left from all our crying, when we can hardly stand for the pain; books that will be there like loved ones… books for those nights when no matter how exhausted we are we cannot sleep, and all […]
