Blog
Tales From The Tide Short Story Winner: As Old as Winter by Talia Duckworth
Congratulations to our Tales From The Tide Short story competition winner, Talia Duckworth. The tide brought back something that should have stayed lost. They say it is better to feel pain with truth than joy with oblivion, yet the latter seems far more...
Tales from the Book Nook
Welcome to Tales from the Book Nook If you love books, conversation and you’d like the inside track on what it’s really like to run an indie book shop, then you’re in the right place. Each episode will packed with behind-the-scenes moments from the store, author...
Tales from the Tide Short story competition
The sea never keeps its secrets forever. Write a short story of up to 1000 words inspired by the theme Tales from the Tide. Your story may be literary, historical, romantic, mysterious, magical, humorous, or something entirely unexpected—but somewhere within it...
Book Review: The Pretender by Jo Harkin
The Pretender turns a Tudor footnote into a fantastic flesh‑and‑blood story that I absolutely loved. Jo Harkin takes Lambert Simnel - raised as the peasant boy John Collan, polished up as a princeling, briefly crowned in Dublin as Edward VI- and makes his world feel...
Book Review: Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
Shuggie Bain is a tummy-punch read for sure. Douglas Stuart drags you through the grey sky and grit of 1980s Glasgow, beautifully crafted a tale of love between a mother and son. With her smudged lipstick smile: Agnes, a mother perched between pride and the pint, and...
Book Review: Signs of Damage by Diana Reid
The story centres on Cass, who, as a 13-year-old in 2008, experiences a disturbing incident during a family holiday in the south of France. Fast forward 16 years, at a funeral, Cass collapses, prompting some reflection of past events and their lingering effects. What...
Book Review: Mother Tongue by Naima Brown
Hear me out...a woman has an accident, slips into a coma and wakes speaking fluent French (a language she never actually mastered). Her husband? Eric, a man who is heading deeper into misogynistic and ‘conservative’ beliefs. PLUS a very complex (but not completely...
Book Review: Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
After her 3 critically acclaimed earlier novels: Purple Hibiscus, Half a Yellow Sun and Americanah, I started Dream Count, her first published novel in a dozen or so years, full on anticipation. It does not disappoint. I found Dream Count ambitious, powerful,...
Book Review: Nesting by Roisín O’Donnell
Warning: discussions about Domestic Violence and emotional abuse. From an unforgettable new voice in Irish fiction, a heart-pounding, life-affirming story about one woman trying to leave her marriage and start over. For fans of Claire Keegan and Emma Donoghue. On a...