==Literary fiction==
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{{newreview
|author=Jaimy Gordon
|title=Lord of Misrule
|rating=4
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=West Virginia, 1970. We're at a rundown race track, of the dusty kind rundown horses and their rundown owner/trainers fetch up living in, with the occasional race to interrupt the boredom. Into things comes a young upstart hoping to surprise all with his four unknown quantities and make a packet before fleeing. His girlfriend is here too to help out, and naively eager for success and knowledge, but old hands like Medicine Ed have seen it all before. Also in the background are some small-time gangsters who are not too keen at for once not knowing who is doing what and how races are going to be run and won.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857386697</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Joan Leegant
|summary=Now, I know that size isn't everything, but the first thing that strikes you about 'The Instructions' is that it is a brick of a book. It comes in at a wrist-challenging 1030 pages that almost encourages me to invest in an e-reader. It's also hugely ambitious for a first time writer not least that the book's action takes place over just a few days and the narrator is a ten year old child. While it starts encouragingly, it too rapidly becomes repetitive and dull and I found it a slog to get through. There are some great passages but these get too easily lost in this huge tome.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857861360</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=A L Kennedy
|title=The Blue Book
|rating=4
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Despite not being 'quoits and gin slings and rubbers of bridge people' Elizabeth and Derek have embarked on a cruise. Derek is probably hoping to propose, but things do not go as planned. From the moment they encounter a stranger as they board the ship, the cruise proves to be revelationary for all concerned.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224091409</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Richard Beard
|title=Lazarus is Dead
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=The title certainly got my attention and when I read that Beard is the Director of the National Academy of Writing, London I was expecting great things from him. I'm also thinking in the very next breath how audacious to write a fictional book about a towering biblical character but then, many have done just that. Will he pull it off though?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184655506X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Thierry Jonquet
|title=Tarantula: The Skin I Live In
|rating=5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=In a large French country house, an expert in facial reconstruction surgery keeps a beautiful woman locked up in her bedroom. He placates her with opium, but barks orders through hugely powerful speakers and an intercom. She tantalises him with her sexuality, which he tries to ignore, except for when he seems to abuse it in a sort of S/M way when he does let her into society, as he forces her to prostitute herself. Elsewhere, a young, inept bank robber holes himself up in a sunny house, waiting for the heat to die. And finally, a young man is held chained up in a cellar at the hands of an unknown possessor.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846687942</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Amy Waldman
|title=The Submission
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=The front cover of the book that I received for review is subtle (as befitting the sensitive contents) and I can see the two twin towers (as was) depicted in grey in the title word submission. The back cover announces that this novel will be ''Published in time for the 10th anniversary of 9/11.'' No pressure then. I open the book with a certain amount of trepidation, I have to admit and feel slightly as if I'm about to tread on (literary) eggshells. Heavens - what if I don't like the book?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0434019321</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Bernard Beckett
|title=August
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
|summary=
In an alternate world, Tristan and Grace come from The City, a closed and enclosed society in which religion dominates. Tristan had been an acolyte at St Augustine's. He spent a childhood being drilled in philosophical discussion of free will by the Rector. A star pupil, a single event made him question everything he had been taught. Grace had spent the first part of her childhood in the convent, but a single act of kindness led to her excommunication.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857387898</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Daisy Waugh
|title=Last Dance with Valentino
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=When I read on the front cover that this book is described by the Sunday Times as ''A gripping, bittersweet love story'' it wasn't a particularly good statement for me to read. As a rule I don't generally 'do' love stories. If I happen to read one every once in a while then that's fine by me but I don't encourage them! But, both the lovely title and the front cover did their job and pulled me in - just a little.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>000739120X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Maile Chapman
|title=Your Presence is Requested at Suvanto
|rating=4
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=American nurse Sunny Taylor needed to get away from home and everything familiar. She takes a gamble into the unknown and ends up in Finland. The language barrier seems to be the least of her problems. As a healthy, relatively young female she sees on a daily basis ailments, minor and major, imagined and otherwise. ''Suvanto'' (which gives the novel its title) is the name of the well-known and well-regarded hospital. It operates on a tier system - those who can pay well for medical care and those who are less well-off. And the accommodation, level of nursing and medical care and even the food also operate on this tiered system.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099548674</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Steven Amsterdam
|title=Things We Didn't See Coming
|rating=4
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=This book has gained praise from the likes of the Washington Post and the Financial times so I was really looking forward to a good - even great read. But did I get it? I think that opening on the eve of the millennium (the most recent one) is pretty special in itself and should be a good 'hook' to draw the reader in. The narrator, young, male (not named as yet) and his family are packing the family car for the journey ahead. The poor car is full to bursting. Dad is a sceptic and he's taking no chances with this millennium situation and he's instructed his family to pack more than the usual festive presents this time. They've (well, dad has) made the decision to get as far away from London as they can - just in case. Just in case of what exactly is never mentioned, only implied. So it's New Year celebrations with the grandparents.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009954704X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Alexander Maksik
|title=You Deserve Nothing
|rating=4.5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Does the world need another 'inspirational teacher lets down students' story? It's debatable, but this one is really rather good.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848545703</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Judith Hermann
|title=Alice
|rating=4
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=''Alice'' is a collection of five short stories, linked thematically since they all deal with the subject of death, but they are also linked because the central character, Alice, is the same in each story. So rather than feeling like short stories the book has a hint of the novel to it, yet the stories are never completed or fully told so it's a novel where you're not always sure what's going on.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184668529X</amazonuk>
}}
