Condensation and Cannonballs. Review by Barbara Lewis. Eli, the best friend of Tom, we’re told is from “a nice family” – and Noah McCreadie’s account of the pair’s childhood friendship dares to be genuine, simple and nice in the best sense. It is gentle, thoughtful, realistic and quietly devastating.
Poetry review – ON LOAN: Merryn Williams reviews Caroline Maldonado’s new collection of poems about life in Italy which often shine unaccustomed light on the darker aspects
Wild Horse Nine. Review by Graham Buchan. With a track record which includes In Bruges and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Martin McDonagh is rightly considered one of the most imaginative and compelling writer-directors working in contemporary cinema. He has an unerring knack of examining the darker aspects of human nature whilst retaining a distinctly comedic approach.
Poetry review – A PREVALENCE OF ANGELS: Charles Rammelkamp finds an unusually strong sense of awe and reverence in Jennifer Barber’s poems
Poetry review – THE BEAT THE PULSE THE WAVE: Colin Pink enjoys some vivid personal memories retold as poems by Jeremy Dixon
THE PALACE OF WISDOM: Maria C McCarthy is intrigued by John O’Donoghue’s historical novel, which draws on a fictional connection between the poets Robert Lowell and John Clare
Ode to the Boy-Rabbit: Ifésinàchi Nwàdiké reviews Wayne Holloway-Smith’s RABBITBOX
Poetry review – LETTERS FOR JOHN: Alex Josephy is moved by the memories Carole Coates continues to share with her late husband
Richard Dadd. Review by Barbara Lewis. A friend of the young Richard Dadd when he was one of the stars of the Royal Academy of Arts referred to his “rich voice as full of music as a joy-bell” and his “sportive humour, exciting innocent mirth”. A few years later, Dadd had stabbed his father to death during a psychotic episode. Dadd avoided hanging but spent the rest of his life locked away – first in the Bethlem Royal Hospital and then in Broadmoor.
The Master Builder. Review by Barbara Lewis. On one of its many levels, Henrik Ibsen’s “The Master Builder” is an exploration of whether human beings can make things happen, good or bad, by sheer force of will. The alternative possibilities are that they are manipulated by dark, troll-like forces or that God is the supreme architect to whose designs a pious bourgeoisie must dutifully submit.
Poetry review – SOME DARK GOD: Rachel Jeffcoat lets Catherine Balaq’s poems take her into some intriguingly dark places
Poetry review – A LEXICON OF LONGING: Jennifer Johnson appreciates the example set by Kevin Saving’s accomplished use of formal techniques
By Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • added recently on London Grip, books, poetry reviews, year 2026