7 fascinating facts about Alexandre Dumas

Dumas’ grandmother was a French slave of African descent whilst his grandfather was the Marquis de la Pailleterie. Despite the racism of the time, his father, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas became the first mixed-raced Brigadier General in France. He later fell out of favour with Napoleon over Napoleon’s attempt to conquer Egypt. Dumas left the campaign early …

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Dickens’ masterpiece is one of the most enduring novels of all time. It showcases love, jealousy and greed and shows us the price of placing ambition above anything else. At the centre of it all is Pip. His family is poor and his sister openly resents taking care of him after their parents’ death. But …

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Ishiguro’s spellbinding novel about a dystopian future makes us think about what it really means to be human. Kathy and her best friends Ruth and Tommy have a seemingly idyllic childhood in Halisham, an exclusive boarding school. But it quickly becomes clear that there is something strange about their situation. They have no parents, no …

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lumari

Jhumpa Lumari paints a beautifully realistic portrait of a family caught between two cultures and two identities and portrays how different this experience is for two different generations. The novel starts with Ashoke and Ashima who have moved to Boston from India after their arranged marriage. Ashima, in particular, feels a real sense of loss …

Kazuo Ishiguro Botley Lecture

I've always loved Ishiguro so going to see him at the Oxford Literary Festival was an opportunity I couldn't miss. Ishiguro talked about memory, artificial intelligence and everything in between. It was a real glimpse into how his mind works. Going into it, I expected an interview style format but the talk turned out to be …

Smoke by Turgenev

Turgenev's Smoke is a love story, tinged with melancholy, that takes us through the soaring highs and devastating lows of rekindled passion. Grigory Litinov, the son of a merchant, is engaged to his cousin Tatyana. But whilst he wait for her in the holiday town of Baden-Baden he meets Irina, the beautiful aristocrat he once …

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Agatha Christie casts a long shadow over the detective genre, but in Magpie Murders Horowitz does something truly unique. He give us a tribute to Christie in a book that brings something new to the genre. Susan Ryeland is the editor of Alan Conway's best-selling Atticus Pünd series. She's incredibly excited to read his latest …

Nutshell by Ian McEwan

What if Hamlet was a foetus? What would this change? McEwen’s startling premise breathes new life into Shakespeare’s classic tale of murder, suspense and betrayal. Beautiful, pregnant Trudy is sleeping with Claude, her husband’s brother. But they’re not merely lovers; they are plotting to kill John for the million pound townhouse he owns. The one …

Pamuk created an actual museum based on The Museum of Innocence

In my last post I talked about Pamuk's Museum of Innocence but what you may not know is that it's not just an epic novel. Pamuk actually built a museum recreating his protagonists' obsessive collection in real life. Every significant object that Kemal kept of Füsun, the woman he loved, has been recreated and put …

The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk

Pamuk’s vivid tale brilliantly captures the pain of love, loss and obsession. When Kemal, a wealthy heir, sees 18 year old shop girl Füsun he falls for her, even though he’s engaged to Sibel, a woman of his own class. With Füsun, he’s happier than he’s even been. But this is Istanbul of the early …