#maeve-kerrigan

[ follow ]
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
8 hours ago

Devotions by Lucy Caldwell review short stories that are frightening, passionate and comforting too

Caldwell's stories explore family, memory, and personal struggles, blending bleak irony with moments of optimism in complex narratives.
Writing
fromDefector
2 days ago

Gwendoline Riley's Phantom Lives | Defector

Fulfillment in life often eludes individuals despite achieving various goals, leading to a continuous search for meaning and satisfaction.
Television
fromIndependent
5 days ago

Fame was 'a bit of a shock to the system' - Colin Morgan on his rise to stardom, new movie and writing his first book

Colin Morgan transitioned from a little-known theatre actor to a major TV star in three weeks, maintaining a low profile and avoiding social media.
Books
fromOpen Culture
14 hours ago

The Productive Writing Routines of Haruki Murakami, Stephen King, and Virginia Woolf, Explained

Haruki Murakami's sixteenth novel, The Tale of KAHO, will be released this summer, showcasing his enduring productivity and unique writing techniques.
London politics
fromThe New Yorker
1 week ago

Patrick Radden Keefe on "London Falling," His Book About a Teen-Ager's Mysterious Life and Death

A teenager's mysterious death in London reveals his dangerous connections and alternate identity as the son of a Russian oligarch.
Writing
fromThe New Yorker
1 week ago

Gwendoline Riley's New Novel Surveys the Wreckage of Middle Age

The Palm House explores complex human emotions through sharp dialogue and character depth, challenging simplistic perceptions of individuals.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 days ago

Zadie Smith: I don't know when I read men any more'

Zadie Smith emphasizes her current preference for reading female authors and the evolution of women's art since her youth.
Arts
fromThe New Yorker
2 weeks ago

Douglas Stuart on the Push and Pull of an Old Life Versus a New One

The story 'A Private View' explores themes of class, art, and personal identity through a museum setting.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
5 days ago

The Body Builders by Albertine Clarke review a compelling debut of mental meltdown

Ada navigates her mental struggles and identity crisis while forming complex relationships in a surreal London setting.
UK news
fromwww.theguardian.com
3 weeks ago

London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe review a compulsive tale of money, lies and avoidable tragedy

A young man named Zac Brettler died after falling from a balcony, raising questions about the circumstances surrounding his death.
Writing
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 week ago

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke review the downfall of an allAmerican tradwife

Yesteryear critiques the tradwife phenomenon through a time-traveling narrative that reveals the harsh realities behind idealized traditional values.
#true-crime
London politics
fromSlate Magazine
3 weeks ago

The Author of Say Nothing Has a New True-Crime Book. It's Remarkable.

Patrick Radden Keefe's 'London Falling' investigates the death of Zac Brettler, exploring themes of tragedy, blame, and urban decay.
Books
fromKqed
3 weeks ago

'London Falling': A Teen Imposter, an Aging Gangster, a Body in the River

Brettler lived a double life, deceiving Sharma about his wealth, leading to fatal consequences for both in London's aspirational culture.
London politics
fromSlate Magazine
3 weeks ago

The Author of Say Nothing Has a New True-Crime Book. It's Remarkable.

Patrick Radden Keefe's 'London Falling' investigates the death of Zac Brettler, exploring themes of tragedy, blame, and urban decay.
Books
fromKqed
3 weeks ago

'London Falling': A Teen Imposter, an Aging Gangster, a Body in the River

Brettler lived a double life, deceiving Sharma about his wealth, leading to fatal consequences for both in London's aspirational culture.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
6 days ago

The best books to read in April: new paperbacks from Katie Kitamura, Benjamin Wood and Mick Herron

The novel explores themes of identity, trauma, and the performance of self through the interactions between the narrator and Xavier.
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 weeks ago

When an author says she had to decline a $175,000 prize, what does it say about the publishing world? | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

Helen DeWitt's refusal of the Windham-Campbell prize highlights the tension between artistic integrity and the demands of self-promotion in the literary world.
Writing
Film
fromBustle
4 weeks ago

The Book That Helped Caitriona Balfe Understand The "Grief" Of Motherhood

Absence of screens fosters reading habits, as experienced by Caitríona Balfe, who reflects on her journey in the series Outlander.
#freida-mcfadden
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 week ago

Deliciously dark': how Freida McFadden's twisty thrillers gripped millions of readers

Freida McFadden, a bestselling author, has rapidly gained popularity, selling millions of books and recently revealing her true identity.
Arts
fromwww.npr.org
4 weeks ago

'The Keeper' is a grand finale to Tana French's Cal Hooper crime series

The Keeper concludes the Cal Hooper series, emphasizing environmental themes and the darkness lurking beneath the surface of rural life in Ireland.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 week ago

The best recent crime and thrillers review roundup

Cal Hooper investigates a suspicious death in a small Irish town, revealing deep-rooted connections and conflicts among its residents.
Books
fromFuncheap
1 week ago

Danielle Girard with JJ Elliott - Pinky Swear: A Novel (Corte Madera)

Danielle Girard's new thriller features a young woman's frantic search for her missing surrogate before the baby's due date.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 weeks ago

On Memoir by Blake Morrison review lessons in life writing from a master

Life writing encompasses personal and collective experiences, requiring careful navigation of emotions and events.
fromHyperallergic
1 month ago

Anki King's Nordic Noir

Anki King's work suggests an intimate engagement with New Image painting, particularly the later work of Susan Rothenberg, but she took it in a direction that is recognizably hers.
Arts
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

The Writer and the Traitor by Robert Verkaik review divided loyalties

Graham Greene announced that he was resigning from MI6. Kim Philby, his chief in Section V, MI6's counterespionage arm, blinked. Greene had played his part in tending the illusion.
London politics
#literary-fiction
Books
fromwww.npr.org
2 weeks ago

Move over, Mr. Ripley. 'I Am Agatha' is a delightfully duplicitous debut

Agatha Smithson is an unreliable narrator exploring themes of artistic ambition and love between women in their 60s.
fromIrish Independent
1 month ago

Woman who wrote book to help sons overcome dad's death is found guilty of his murder

Prosecutors said Richins secretly slipped five times the lethal dose of fentanyl into a Moscow Mule cocktail she made for her husband, killing him. A year later, she wrote a children's book to help their sons process the loss.
Law
Television
fromBustle
1 month ago

Kerry Washington's New Thriller May Have A Shocking Twist

Apple TV's Imperfect Women follows three women navigating an affair and murder, exemplifying the 'good for her' genre where morally gray female characters make questionable choices in response to difficult circumstances.
fromwww.independent.co.uk
1 month ago

Muriel McKay family speak out after bone found in search was non-human

Mark Dyer, Ms McKay's grandson, stated that the family has experienced a rollercoaster of emotions since the bone found was confirmed not to be human. He expressed a sense of calm, stating, 'We're surprised but I feel sanguine about all of this.'
London politics
fromIndependent
3 weeks ago

Louise O'Neill: 'I wanted to write the book that I'd like to have read in the early days of my break-up'

"I wonder why I wanted to be famous," she muses now, as we sit across from each other in The Pavilion cafe in Cork.
Books
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
3 weeks ago

The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley review the laureate of bad relationships

Gwendoline Riley's novels transform ordinary lives into something startling, exploring themes of disconnection and complex relationships through spare prose and sharp dialogue.
Relationships
fromThe New Yorker
2 months ago

Mary Gaitskill on Damage and Defiance

Economic necessity, urban conditions, and contradictory cultural messages pushed many women into sex work, with choice constrained by coercion or gradual entrapment.
New York City
fromThe New Yorker
2 months ago

"Something Familiar," by Mary Gaitskill

A woman returns to New York after years to attend a memorial, carrying deep grief while observing the city's raggedness and a taxi driver's worn humanity.
Books
fromAnOther
4 weeks ago

Djamel White's Novel Is Irish Fiction's Gangland Answer to Heated Rivalry

Djamel White's debut novel, All Them Dogs, blends crime fiction, romance, and tragedy, featuring a complex protagonist navigating the criminal underworld.
fromThe Nation
2 months ago

Barbara Pym's Archaic England

Thatcher rose to power on the back of a campaign to Make Britain Great Again-a promise to reverse the previous two decades of austerity, imperial contraction, and stagnating modernization. By 1979, the country was undeniably in decline-not just materially but on a more ineffable level, too. Divested of the unifying effect of global superpower status, the increasingly dis-United Kingdom's common identity was now an open, and anxious, question.
UK politics
Books
fromBoston.com
1 month ago

The Boston Public Library is the star of Kate Quinn's latest NYT bestseller

Kate Quinn's latest novel, 'The Astral Library,' is a love letter to books and Boston, inspired by her experiences at the Boston Public Library.
Arts
fromwww.npr.org
1 month ago

'Scarpetta' is a captivating murder mystery and a high-wire balancing act

Scarpetta alternates between two timelines with different actresses portraying Kay Scarpetta, supported by strong ensemble performances from established television actors.
Books
fromAnOther
1 month ago

Polly Barton's Debut Novel Is an All-Consuming Exploration of Obsession

The protagonist navigates intense limerence while exploring self-actualization and cultural themes in Polly Barton's debut novel.
Television
fromVulture
2 months ago

This Serial-Killer Thriller Looks So Kidmanian

Nicole Kidman headlines Scarpetta, a Prime Video detective series premiering March 11, playing retired medical examiner Kay Scarpetta returning for one final case.
Television
fromSlate Magazine
1 month ago

Nicole Kidman's New Crime Show Is Surprisingly Captivating-and Goes Unexpected Places

Nicole Kidman stars as Kay Scarpetta in Amazon Prime's new series adaptation, blending family drama with forensic investigation as Kay confronts a murder matching a serial killer she caught 25 years ago.
Writing
fromBusiness Matters
1 month ago

Mara Naaman: A Literary Voice Shaping Culture

Building a life around ideas means prioritizing process and learning over outcomes and external validation, enabling deeper intellectual and creative growth.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

The best recent crime and thrillers review roundup

Killing Me Softly and Whidbey explore complex themes of trauma, morality, and systemic failures in healthcare and society.
Writing
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

Virginia Woolf and the Reclaiming of Attention

Virginia Woolf's stream-of-consciousness technique demonstrates how attention shapes consciousness and remains relevant to contemporary struggles against digital distraction.
Books
fromwww.npr.org
1 month ago

Author Luke Kennard talks about his novel, 'Black Bag'

Luke Kennard's novel 'Black Bag' fictionalizes a 1967 psychology experiment where a silent, bagged actor in a classroom gradually becomes liked by students through repeated exposure, exploring how familiarity transforms perception.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

Almost Life by Kiran Millwood Hargrave review a will-they-won't-they queer romance

Almost Life chronicles a decades-long romance between two women beginning in 1970s Paris, exploring queer love, missed opportunities, and the consequences of life choices across different social contexts.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

Better than Wuthering Heights? The Brontes' novels ranked!

Charlotte Brontë's debut novel The Professor was rejected nine times before publication, while her second novel Jane Eyre achieved immediate success, and Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey drew authentically from her governess experience.
Books
fromThe New Yorker
1 month ago

Patricia Cornwell on Crime and Creativity

Fear is the primary obstacle to creativity; overcoming it and persisting through rejection enables successful creative work.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

Ben Markovits: I used to think any book concerned with people falling in love can't be very good'

Reading shaped formative years through detective stories, fantasy epics, and memoirs that provided companionship and escape during frequent moves and family transitions.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

The best recent crime and thrillers review roundup

Two contemporary novels probe suburban domesticity, revealing secrets, manipulation, and moral ambiguity through slow-burn suspense and darkly comic plotting.
fromThe New Yorker
2 months ago

"This Is How It Happens," by Molly Aitken

You are leaving work, your suit still damp from the morning's downpour, the skin on your palms peeling. You are clutching two supermarket bags, tins of cream soup and tuna knocking against one another. The rain is hard and your anorak is cheap. You are on your way to Stockbridge, to your parents' house, which only your father inhabits now that your mother is gone.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

More heartache than Hamnet?: Maggie O'Farrell's best books ranked!

The ghost of a previous lover is always a challenge, particularly if you (mistakenly) believe that she's actually dead. This is the unenviable situation for Lily, the protagonist of O'Farrell's second novel, who is swept off her feet by dashing architect Marcus and in short order moves in with him. Lily takes his assurances that her predecessor Sinead is no longer with us to mark a more permanent absence;
Books
Books
fromKqed
2 months ago

A New Mother's Descent Into Madness

A Black new mother's descent into paranoia and psychosis amid racial tension and isolation captures the harrowing realities of postpartum experience.
Books
fromEngadget
2 months ago

What to read this weekend: The unsettling new horror novel, Persona

A trans woman uncovers non-consensual pornography of herself and is drawn into escalating horrors involving identity, exploitation, internet influence, and economic precarity.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

Saba Sams: I've no interest in reading Wuthering Heights again'

Jacqueline Wilson's unflinching approach to children's literature, alongside works by authors like Gwendoline Riley and Clarice Lispector, demonstrates that literary courage and emotional complexity resonate more powerfully than conventional safety or virtuousness.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

Rebel English Academy by Mohammed Hanif review a sure-fire Booker contender

Dark, irony-soaked comedy and farce expose Pakistan's political repression, religious hypocrisy, and violence with subversive, satirical imagination.
Books
fromVulture
1 month ago

How Should a White Woman Writer Be?

White women writers from the Dimes Square literary scene are receiving major book launches and media attention, sparking both acclaim and online criticism about nepotism and industry favoritism.
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

A Beautiful Loan by Mary Costello review a profound exploration of the inner life

From the outset, in the novel's prologue, Anna tells us she is determined to account for herself and her life. But we are to expect no ordinary narrative, concerned only with actual events, evidence-based or relying on historical data. No, Anna is interested in the climate of the psyche and the vibrations of the soul. Can it be that the very things we cannot quantify or rationalise are what make life meaningful?
Books
Books
fromwww.newyorker.com
2 months ago

Tessa Hadley Reads John McGahern

Tessa Hadley reads John McGahern’s 'Gold Watch'; she has published thirteen books including Bad Dreams and After the Funeral, and won the 2016 Windham-Campbell Prize.
Books
fromenglish.elpais.com
2 months ago

Rachel Reid, the unassuming author of Heated Rivalry' whose universe has taken on a life of its own

Rachel Reid turned niche queer 'hockey smut' romance into a mass phenomenon with the Game Changers series and its HBO adaptation, selling over 650,000 copies.
Books
fromAnOther
2 months ago

Makenna Goodman's New Book Is a Gripping Portrait of a Disgraced Professor

Explores who gets to live the 'good life', interrogating rural idylls, identity, empathy, cancel culture, obsession, and the complexities of love.
fromThe Atlantic
1 month ago

Vigdis Hjorth's Family Secrets

Her writing tends to be classified as virkelighetslitteratur, or "reality fiction," and for good reason. Hjorth makes Norway sound like a small town-the sort of place where your neighbors know you're home if they can see your footsteps in the snow-and the overlap between her life and work has more than once been the literary version of tabloid news there.
Books
fromJezebel
2 months ago

Jezebel's February Book Pick: A Story Collection About Living in the Shadow of the Troubles

Liadan Ní Chuinn was born in Northern Ireland in 1998, the year the Good Friday Agreement ended the Troubles, the decades of violence stemming from England's occupation of Ireland. Other recent fiction about the Troubles-the novels and Trespasses , the TV show Derry Girls (all excellent)-is set firmly in the last century, relegating the violence to history. Ní Chuinn's work does the opposite: Their new book of short stories, Every One Still Her e, is set in contemporary Northern Ireland.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

Your Life Without Me by James Meek review angel of destruction haunts a domestic drama

A great demolition is also an act of creation, so long as its execution is bold and impressive enough, so long as it clears out the dead wood and opens up the terrain. It's the ethos that links Pablo Picasso to 1970s punk, Shiva the Destroyer to the anarchist hero of Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent. Rip it up and start again. Or rip it up for the pure thrill of the ripping.
Books
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

As If by Isabel Waidner review surreal doppelganger story

As the trophy takes the form of an elusive UFO, Corey Fah an outsider unfamiliar with the baffling inner workings of the system is unable to collect or even confirm the award. Waidner has said that the novel was partly inspired by the experience of winning the Goldsmiths prize for their previous work Sterling Karat Gold, and by the ephemeral nature of success, with its unfamiliar contexts of social power and opportunity.
Books
[ Load more ]