Quartet in Autumn. Review by Barbara Lewis. Lonely, unloved women are the protagonists of Barbara Pym’s novels. The brave honesty of her subject matter led some publishers to reject her, although the poet Philip Larkin was famously among her advocates.
fiction
No Ghosts. Review by Barbara Lewis. Something is so wrong with contemporary life that even the ghosts have stopped haunting it – and yet “No Ghosts” is not so much about the supernatural, or the lack of it, as about the intensely emotional nature of human friendship in early adulthood.
HERE’S WHERE WE GET OFF: Charles Rammelkamp reviews a collection of microfictions by Guy Biederman
SEVEN STORIES: Emma Storr enjoys a selection of tales by Merryn Williams which touch on the darker side of human nature
ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE Charles Rammelkamp reviews a prose and poetry anthology edited by Dan Denton & Michele McDannold
SCABLANDS AND OTHER STORIES: John Lucas reviews a short story collection by Jonathan Taylor
Poetry review – REFLECTIONS IN A DIRTY MIRROR Charles Rammelkamp finds a note of hopefulness beneath the dry cynicism of Tony Dawson’s poetry and flash fiction
THAT LITTLE THREAD: Merryn Williams reviews a thoughtful novel by John Lucas which explores both intellectual and emotional relationships.
THINGS: Charles Rammelkamp reviews a flash fiction collection by Peter Cherches
Bright and Deadly Things. Review by Barbara Lewis. Lexie Elliott is far from the first to make the point that conventional logic has its limitations. But she stands apart from all the literature majors that have defended their visceral thinking in that she earned authority as an Oxford theoretical physicist and then a City banker before reinventing herself as a best-selling writer.
FLASH FICTION AMERICA : Charles Rammelkamp enthuses over a new anthology edited by James Thomas, Sherrie Flick and John Dufresne
BODY AND SOUL : Michael Paul Hogan reviews an impressive and surprising dystopian novel by Andrew Hook
By Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • books, fiction, year 2026 • Tags: books, fiction, Michael Paul Hogan