Welcome to House With No Name. I write about everything from books and films to education, family and France.
My Dark Vanessa is one of the most harrowing novels I’ve read in a long time. The story of an abusive relationship between a 15-year-old girl and her teacher, it’s dark and disturbing, yet utterly compelling. Once you’ve read it you won’t be able to forget it. Vanessa Wye is an immature, awkward pupil at a US boarding school when her English teacher, Jacob Strane, starts to take an unsettling ...keep reading
I started writing my blog in 2011 and I’ve never had such a long gap between posts before. But even though I’ve written thousands of journalistic words this year I couldn’t bring myself to post a blog. It seemed inconsequential and pointless during the pandemic and anyway, it always got banished to the bottom of the to-do list, along with paperwork, tidying up my office and sorting out the massive ...keep reading
I’ve been an admirer of Liz Jones’s column in the Mail on Sunday’s You magazine for years. She’s outspoken and controversial – and SO readable. As I wrote in my blog back in 2011: “I turn to her page before anything else. I occasionally get fed up with accounts of her huge menagerie of animals but even so, she writes so well and with such disarming frankness that her diary ...keep reading
Stubborn Archivist is one of the most original novels I’ve read in a long time. Told in an eclectic mix of prose, dialogue, poetry, lists and snatches of Portuguese, it’s ambitious to say the least. However, this tender portrait of a young girl growing up between two cultures is a triumph – and highly readable at that. Yara Rodrigues Fowler grew up in a Brazilian British household herself and she’s ...keep reading
The Christmas dinner, lovingly prepared by my mother-in-law, looked delicious – turkey, sprouts, parsnips, chestnut stuffing and roast potatoes. There was just one thing puzzling me. What the hell was that soggy beige sauce on the side of my plate? “What is it?” I mouthed at my husband, who was sitting on the other side of the table. Yes, it was bread sauce. But my mum never served it at ...keep reading
A new novel by Tracy Chevalier is always a treat. I’ve loved her books since her first, A Virgin Blue, was published way back in 1997 and in the intervening years she’s gone from strength to strength. Her 10 novels include the brilliant Girl with a Pearl Earring, which has sold more than five million copies and was made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth. Her latest, ...keep reading
I’ve been a fan of Deborah Moggach for years – ever since her first novel, You Must be Sisters, was published in 1978. I even interviewed her once, when the newspaper I was working for at the time inexplicably sent me to talk to her on New Year’s Day. She was charm personified, even though the last thing in the world she must have wanted first thing on January 1 ...keep reading
When it comes to writing thrillers with dizzying plot twists Jeffery Deaver is second to none. He’s written more than 30 page-turning thrillers, sold more than 50 million books around the world and been translated into 25 languages. I’ve been a fan of Deaver’s writing for years. I was lucky enough to interview him six years ago and during the course of our conversation I discovered that while his clever ...keep reading
It was the sort of mistake we all dread making. A diner at a Manchester restaurant was so impressed by the delicious bottle of red that he immediately ordered the same again. Only then did the waitress realise that she had accidentally served the most expensive bottle on the wine list – a £4,500 Chateau Le Pin Pomerol 2001. Fortunately her boss took it remarkably well. “She’s a great employee ...keep reading
Like most book reviewers I know, I have a towering pile of novels to read. But even though I valiantly try to work my way through them in the order they arrive I just can’t. There are some authors whose books go straight to the top of the heap. Why? Because I can’t wait a single second longer to read them. Jane Harper is a case in point. Her first ...keep reading