Longlisted for The Man Booker Prize 2025, SEASCRAPER by Benjamin Wood is an elegant and sparely written novel set on a lonesome shoreline, delicately observing a young man’s hopes and dreams for the future.

Andrew Miller’s perfect evocation of the freezing winter of 1962/63, focussing on two couples, both expecting their first baby, is a pitch-perfect observation of marriage, steeped in period detail.

It was such a treat to attend the London Library’s 8th October event: an interview with critic, journalist and non-fiction author, Frances Wilson, hosted by author Chris Power, talking about France’s brilliant new book ELECTRIC SPARK: THE ENIGMA OF MURIEL SPARK (Bloomsbury, £25).

It was such a thrill to be Highly Commended for the Dorothy Dunnett Society/Historical Writers’ Association Short Story Competition 2023. All the shortlisted writers were invited to attend the HWA Crown Awards 2023 event at the Crypt on the Green in Clerkenwell on Wednesday 22 November, where we were presented with our certificates and copies of the prize anthology.

A captivating non-fiction book, which drew my attention on Twitter long before it hit the bookstores. Written by Kate Strasdin, a dress historian at Falmouth University, and subtitled ‘Secrets from a Victorian Woman’s Wardrobe’, it traces the history of Mrs Anne Sykes, the mid-19th-century daughter of a mill owner, through the medium of her silk-covered dress diary, filled with hundreds of fabric swatches.

I’ve been researching my great aunt, C M Theobald, who in 1915 published a novel called Lena Hale (George Allen & Unwin). I was delighted to discover that the Archive of British Publishing and Printing, housed at the University of Reading, contained around 20 letters between her and the publishing house and I was able to visit and see them.

Ever since I read ‘The Secret Scripture’ and ‘Days Without End’ by Irish writer and Costa Book of the Year winner Sebastian Barry, I’ve been hooked by his masterful fusion of poetic language and brilliant storytelling. So, I’ve been eagerly awaiting the publication of ‘Old God’s Time’ (Faber & Faber), and it didn’t disappoint.