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Welcome to A Novel Review, the book podcast where every week, Seamus reviews a different book. For 2025 Seamus is doing a ‘Book World Tour’ where every month he ‘travels’ through literature to another country. The rules are simple: Each month he reads two books – one male and one female and the author has…
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“The Dark King Swallows the World” blends history and fantasy with a dash of whimsy, as 12-year-old Nora navigates faeries, giants, and a chilling King of the Dead—all to bring her brother back. It’s a magical rollercoaster where every page feels like a new twist, proving that even in the darkest times, a little imagination…
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“A Woman in Berlin” is an anonymous account of a woman’s experience during the fall of Berlin in 1945, as Soviet forces invade the city. The diary, written by a journalist, reveals the harsh realities of war, sexual violence, and survival. Her poignant observations offer an unflinching portrayal of the human cost of conflict, exploring…
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In Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake doubles down on his surreal vision, crafting a gothic maze where time moves in sluggish circles and tradition is a trap. The castle is both character and prison, and its inhabitants, bizarrely fixated on status, seem destined to stumble through their own eccentricities. Steeped in dark humor and absurdity, the novel…
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A story of fiction inlaid with the truth from someone who was there. The writer Hans Peter Richter was there in Nazi Germany, not just as a bystander but as an active participant. The story he writes explores the lives of a young boy living under this regime of ideological programming that led so many…
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Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell tells the historically fictive, gothic, fantasy tale of the two practical magicians in London. One is the master, the prim and proper, quiet and concerned Mr Norrell, the other, the apprentice, eager and energetic, daring and audacious, Jonathan Strange. Both believe in the magic they work on, but they have…
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A girl returns but she never knew she left. How would you navigate growing up only to learn at age 13 you have been with a foster family, and your real family want you back. Only, they don’t really want you back. So begins the tale as our young narrator is forced to question the…
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The fantasy tour for 2025 kicks off with this crumbling vestige of fantasy literature that endures against the masses. Ghormengast is the great castle that outlasts all, and within its hallowed halls, the ritualistic mundane life of the Earl of Groan is carried out daily. Around him, a fantastically absurd cast of characters go about…
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The world book tour takes flight and this month we are off to Italy. The Moon and the Bonfires by Cesare Pavese asking the personal question of ‘what is a home?’ If you leave your home and come back to find that you and it have changed, is it still your home. Lyrically pervasive with…
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As 2024 comes to a close, I wonder where I will go next year. What magical countries will literature transport me to? That’s when an idea stuck me. A book world tour. 12 months, 12 countries, 24 books. A sample of some of the beauty that is out there is the vast world we inhabit.…
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Ho Ho Hello and Merry Christmas! In A Christmas Carol, Dickens wraps up Scrooge’s grumpy heart with a bow of redemption. Haunted by ghosts, he discovers generosity isn’t just for the wealthy. A festive reminder that even the most miserly souls can learn the joy of Christmas cheer! Painting: Today I painted a duck with…
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