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Books

2019 Booker Prize Winner(s): A Cop-out?

On 14th October 2019 the Booker Prize was awarded to signify a work of outstanding literature as it has been done annually for the last 50 years. However, this year prize was awarded to not one, but two winners: Margaret Atwood for The Testaments and Bernardine Evaristo for Girl, Woman, Other. Though not the first time that the prize has done this, the last time was over two decades ago, when a regulation was put in place stating there could only be one winner. When announcing their decision, the panel stated that this unique circumstance did not come from an…

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Books

‘The Testaments’ by Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood has become a household name, widely recognisable and revered, increasingly so after the production of a TV adaptation of perhaps her most famous novel, The Handmaid’s Tale. In September of this year, Atwood finally released the widely anticipated and requested sequel, entitled The Testaments. Written 34 years after the first, the novel similarly takes place some years after the events of the previous, specifically 17 years later. Moreover, prior to its release to the public, the novel was longlisted for the Booker Prize. The novel returns us to the patriarchal nation of Gilead, a state born out of…

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Books

‘Art & Grace’ by Catherine E. Chapman Review

Taking place in the early nineteenth century in southern England, Art & Grace, a regency era novel, follows a mixed-race maid, Bess, as she struggles to ensure a stable and safe future. The premise of the story intrigued me by the inclusion of aspects of slavery and race which is so often left out in the writings of Dickens and Austen. Indeed, in his book The World, the Text and the Critic, Edward Said points out how the underlying context of colonialism serves as the unspoken funder of the rich and wealthy during this period. Author Catherine E. Chapman brings…

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Music

III by The Lumineers – Part I: Gloria Sparks

I am so utterly excited about today’s post! Last year, I did a run-through of the music video series that one of my favourite bands had put out. This year, along with a brand new album, the same band have done yet another series of interrelated stories in their music videos! The Lumineers third studio album III was released at the beginning of September, and with it, a ten-part music video series. I will go through all three parts and divide them into three separate blog posts as I could not do them justice if I had to condense them…

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Books

‘The Colonel and the Bee’ by Patrick Canning

We are so excited to have once again on the blog today a review requested by an author who very kindly sent us his book. The Colonel and the Bee is a short novel bursting with energy and excitement. The author, Patrick Canning seems to have pulled from many references and genres, ranging from Charles Dickens, Angela Carter and Jules Verne. More than anything, I was left with the feeling that this was the tale I wish I had had as a young girl myself. The novel follows thirteen-year-old Beatrix as she runs away from the circus with a man,…

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Books

New Beginnings – Guest Post by Johanna Nield

Today’s post is an incredibly interesting one. Most often, I’m on here talking and writing about stories, what has happened in them, how they made me feel and the impression that they leave. Yet, in all that time, a question I do not seem to ask nearly enough is, how did the writer feel while creating this story and these characters. A big debate in the literary world is whether the author’s intentions actually matters. Some say that the initial intentions should be dismissed, for once the book leaves their hands into that of the reader, it is no longer…

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