Above by Leah BobetMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Above, by Canadian author Leah Bobet, is a truly well-crafted novel, written by an author clearly comfortable with voice, language and imagery. In this dark, modern fairy tale Bobet writes from a very difficult point of view, yet manages to sustain tension that leaves the reader flayed. Her pace and the emotional impact of that pace is relentless. Not an easy read, not a novel you’d…

Food for the Gods by Karen DudleyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Short-listed for the 2013 Prix Aurora, Food for the Gods ticks all the boxes: It’s impeccably researched, craftily written, with wit, humour, screamingly funny but believable characters and a rocketing good pace. Dudley unfolds the story of Peplos, a put-upon murdered-but-resurrected son of the King of Lydia (a king, it should be noted, who fancied serving up an economical stew-of-son to his guests),…

The Blind Man’s Garden by Nadeem AslamMy rating: 5 of 5 stars A deftly and sensitively written novel, set in contemporary Pakistan and Afghanistan, which examines the pressures, complexities and ambiguities of both political and religious issues. Aslam could have so easily succumbed to stridency and pontification about the Taliban and extremism whether Islamic or Western, and instead delivered an exquisitely heartbreaking story about being human, about what we will endure in the name of…