Author Archives: Beth Wren
Review: The Transit of Venus, Shirley Hazzard
Caro, gallant and adventurous, is one of two Australian sisters who have come to post-war England to seek their fortunes. Courted long and hopelessly by young scientist, Ted Tice, she is to find that love brings passion, sorrow, betrayal and finally hope. The milder Grace seeks fulfilment in an apparently happy marriage. But as the […]
Travel diaries: Amsterdam
Amsterdam has been on my list to visit for ages, and it feels like everybody I know has been there recently and had lots of recommendations of places to go and, most importantly (always), where to eat. With a close friend currently studying in Rotterdam, there was no better time to reassemble the university friendship […]
Review: Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Ifemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple with what it means to be black for the first time. Quiet, thoughtful Obinze had hoped to join her, but with post-9/11 America […]
The Diary of an Unpublished Author #10: Back to University
Dear Diary, It’s been a while since I’ve written to you. I guess it’s been a while since I’ve written anything at all. Since self-publishing my book last summer, I’ve been in a bit of a slump. Stuck in a limbo of what now. I’ll be the first to admit that self-publishing was never my […]
Review: The Bear and the Nightingale, Katherine Arden
In a village at the edge of the wilderness of northern Russia, where the winds blow cold and the snow falls many months of the year, an elderly servant tells stories of sorcery, folklore and the Winter King to the children of the family, tales of old magic frowned upon by the church. But for […]
Review: Stay With Me, Ayòbámi Adébáyò
Yejide is hoping for a miracle, for a child. It is all her husband wants, all her mother-in-law wants, and she has tried everything. But when her relatives insist upon a new wife, it is too much for Yejide to bear. Unravelling against the social and political turbulence of 1980s Nigeria, Stay With Me is […]
Travel Diaries: Copenhagen
I have to admit that I was a little apprehensive about travelling to Copenhagen for a weekend break, purely because there was so much I wanted to do and I was worried that I either wouldn’t be able to fit everything in. Only I could worry about holiday (eyeroll emoji). The amazing thing was that […]
Review: The Lesser Bohemians, Eimear McBride
An eighteen-year-old Irish girl arrives in London to study drama and falls violently in love with an older actor. This older man has a disturbing past that the young girl is unprepared for. The young girl has a troubling past of her own. This is her story and their story. The Lesser Bohemians is about sexual […]
Review: Orlando, Virginia Woolf
A cult heroine among many of my generation, I recently decided to plunge back into Woolfian waters, in which I had not dipped my toes since my undergraduate studies. Having read (and attempted to analyse) Mrs Dalloway and To the Lighthouse what now feels like many years ago, I was surprised at just how different Orlando is to Woolf’s other works. […]
Review: A Whole Life, Robert Seethaler
In a busy and chaotic world, sometimes it takes a quiet novel about a man and his mountains to knock you off your feet. A Whole Life is short and simple, translated from the German into wonderfully unfrilly prose by Charlotte Collins. I think sometimes it’s too easy to be impressed by the grand and […]
Bethany Wren 