“Trying to see the world as others might seems like an act of respect to me—so long as it isn’t done cynically or sloppily.” Skip Horack talks to Tom Bennitt about work, religion, and history in his fiction.
Last week we featured Margot Livesey’s new novel, The Flight of Gemma Hardy, as our Book-of-the-Week title, and we’re pleased to announce the winners. Mira Bartok (@miraslist) Ben Pfeiffer (@bppfeiffer) Nadine Feldman (@Nadine_Feldman) To claim your free copy, please email us at the following address: winners [at] fictionwritersreview.com If you’d like to be eligible for future giveaways, please visit our Twitter Page and “follow” us!
In this wide-ranging review, Brad Wetherell looks at Tom Franklin’s newest novel Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter and considers the way Franklin subverts genre expectations, as well as how e-readers like the Kindle have the potential to change readers’ expectations.
V. Jo Hsu considers Rahul Mehta’s debut story collection, which she says addresses issues connected to sexual, racial, and cultural identities in artful ways, and through evocative language.
A tale of two Londons—present-day and the glitter and doom of the 1920s and 30s—and a shoebox containing a mystery lie at the heart of Kathleen Tessaro’s delectable fourth novel, The Debutante. Lauren Hall calls the book a “fast-paced and enjoyable ride,” equal parts historical mystery and smart, gossipy love story.
Peggy Adler talks to debut novelist Valerie Laken about the inspiration behind her first book and her process in writing it. Dream House, a literary crime novel, tells the story of a young couple whose lives are upended when they discover that the historic home they’ve just bought was once the site of a murder.
Sadie Jones’s exciting debut is saturated in the same high color as the embracing couple on its cover. Simultaneously tender and urgent, claustrophobic and wistful, The Outcast tells the story of Lewis Aldridge, a tortured romantic figure in the Heathcliff tradition, and of the repressive postwar English society that drives him to self-destruction.
