Posts

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Top Five Books of 2022

In no particular oder, here are my top five reads from this past year, books that have stayed with me and I know will do for some time. I have three fiction here, one non-fiction and a travelogue. I'm not normally into anything vaguely…

A Year of Reading Authors of Colour

I decided towards the end of 2020 that in 2021 I would read books only by authors of colour / BAME authors. I made this decision after realising that only a tiny proportion of my shortlisted favourite books from 2020 fell into the BAME category.…

📚Top Ten Books of 2020📚

I read quite a lot of books, so it wasn't at all easy to narrow this list down to ten. I have also discovered the joys of audiobooks this year which has significantly bumped up my book intake. I spent some time writing out my long list, crossing…

Top Reads of 2019

As the end of 2019 is fast approaching, I thought I'd write a list of my top ten books of this year. If you like the sound of any of them, you've still time to pop down to your local bookshop before Christmas. The following books are not in…
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My 5 favourite books from the first half of 2018

'Someone reading a book is a sign of order in the world.' Mary Ruefle Over the past six months as I have been travelling round India, I have been reading and reading and reading. Not that this is any different from normal, but what has been…
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Why I still read aloud to my children

Its been 1.5 years since I wrote my last blog about reading aloud to children, even older children. My kids are now 11,9 & 7 and I thought I’d give an update on what we’re doing now. Well, I’m still reading to my three most nights…
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#FeministFebruary - A shout out from India

Virginia Woolf As February draws to a close, I am sneaking in with a quick blog post to celebrate #FeministFebruary as I only discovered its existence the other day. Coincidentally, I am reading Virginia Woolf's book A Room of One's Own (1929) at…
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Votes for women, books about women?

A landmark anniversary passed this week in the UK, marking 100 years since women were granted the long overdue vote. In my first novel, The Poet’s Wife, Luisa meets with other women to discuss women’s suffrage and proudly casts her vote…
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My favourite 5 books from the second half of 2017

It's been a busy six months: publishing my third novel, packing up our house & leaving Nairobi. But I've read more than ever. Reading is a constant for me, an anchor and refuge and my day is never finished without losing myself within the…

Four 5* Books from the first half of 2017

As we reach the middle of 2017, I thought it would be fun to do a short review of my four favourite reads of the year so far. After all, I am first and foremost a reader, and my love of the written word has, over the years, helped carve my path…