Book review: The Valley of Amazement, by Amy Tan
Subscriber contentBy Jane Westaway in Books
Issue 3841 12th Dec 2013
“Etiquette for Beauties of the Boudoir” and other important lessons.
Girl, interrupted
By Jane Westaway in Books
Issue 3808 24th Apr 2013
Our reviewer’s verdict on this month’s Listener Book Club choice.
The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer review
By Jane Westaway in Books
Issue 3733 26th Nov 2011
The American author explores the long-haul, nightie-and-pyjamas kind of sex.
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett review
By Jane Westaway in Books
Issue 3716 30th Jul 2011
Too much interior journey leavesAnn Patchett’s State of Wonder meandering and plodding.
Blue Skies by Helen Hodgman
By Jane Westaway in Books
Issue 3708 4th Jun 2011
Prose to admire even as you flinch
A villa in need of repairs
By Jane Westaway in Books
Issue 3672 25th Sep 2010
An air of portentousness is no substitute for event in Kapka Kassabova's new novel.
Geoff in London
By Jane Westaway in Books
Issue 3644 13th Mar 2010
What more can there be to know about writer Geoff Dyer when there's apparently so much of him in his work? Or is there?
Logic, not horror
By Jane Westaway in Books
Issue 3637 23rd Jan 2010
PD James on the how-it's-done of whodunits, the place of crime in English fiction, and Jane Austen's use of clues.
Doubting Thomas
By Jane Westaway in Books
Issue 3607 27th Jun 2009
Never one to replay an old tune, novelist Hilary Mantel went in search of the real Thomas Cromwell behind the 'Tudor pantomime' villain she was taught about at school.
Dyer straights
By Jane Westaway in Books
Issue 3604 6th Jun 2009
The pleasures of a writer who's his own favourite subject.