Novelist and Reviewer: Author: The Other Book, The Liberators. The Darkening Path Trilogy: The Broken King, vol. 1; The King's Shadow, vol. 2, and The King's Revenge, vol. 3. The Double Axe, a retelling of the Minotaur story, and The Arrow of Apollo. How To Teach Classics to Your Dog published October 2020. Wildlord, publishing October 2021.
Here's my review of Tessa Hadley's latest novella, The Party, for The Financial Times. I've reviewed many of her previous novels and short story collections:
Married Love for The Spectator
Late in the Day for The Independent
The Past for The Independent
The London Train for The Financial Times
I've reviewed a book about Shakespeare's Tragic Art by Rhodri Lewis, for Spectator World. Read it here.
I've written a paean to invitations for The Spectator, in this week's edition. Read it here, and here I'm talking to Mary Killen (her off Gogglebox) about the decline.
Sometimes a commission comes along for which I'll drop everything: and quite literally, I did for this one, a re-reading of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, for The Times. I read it in four days flat - an entirely blissful experience which reminded me a bit of being at university and having the leisure to do nothing but read. Here's the piece. There's a small error in it: I've written that Edmond was illiterate; he wasn't, of course; I meant "uncultured" as a contrast to his cultured second self.
I began work at Literary Review as an intern, some twenty years ago; I left in 2008, and continued on as a Contributing Editor. I love the magazine, and thus am entirely delighted that my review of Sam Leith's splendid book on Children's Literature, THE HAUNTED WOOD, is on this month's cover. You can read the review here.
