The Doors of Eden – review

Eden is open and its doors work both ways… The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky, published in 2020, is the first book of his that I have read. I’ve seen his novels in the sci-fi section in every bookshop I’ve been to lately, and I finally decided to try one out (also, I think

Enid Blyton and the Famous Five Frozen in Time – an essay

The Famous Five are, certainly, famous. This long-suffering bunch of four kids and a dog have found a secret passage, been kidnapped, and discovered bands of smugglers virtually every school holiday since 1942. Plenty has been written about the quaint picnics and repetitive plots, but not so much I think on the subject I’m about

Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish storyteller of the Pacific

Among legendary Scottish writers, Robert Louis Stevenson possibly has the most iconic works to survive to modern audiences: Treasure Island, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Kidnapped… But lesser known are the stories from his time in the Pacific Islands, particularly Samoa, where he spent the last few years of his unfortunately

Reading The Wind in the Willows as an adult – not the simple idyllic tale it seems?

The classic children’s novel The Wind in the Willows has been on my reading list since before I could read. Finally, I got round to it this spring after university exams had finished. From the very beginning, with the character of Mole ditching his spring cleaning to go have some fun – all too relatable

Dreaming Boudica’s Gods: a book review and reflection

Some books walk into my life as though my reading them is inevitable and necessary for the functioning of the universe. Maybe a tad melodramatic, but that’s how I felt at the time when Dreaming the Eagle appeared before me, in my old school hall one evening at a talk by the author herself. I

David Copperfield (aka Trotwood, Davy, Doady, Daisy etc)

This novel is a journey and a half. With something as near-autobiographical as this, that is to be expected, of course. I embarked on the task I don’t know when, a while ago, and finally finished reading this afternoon. And I can say with conviction, it was worth the read. My choice in reading David