British fiction – Page 4

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

A novel based on history and “The Last Duchess”, a poem by Robert Browning – intense and dark, and highly evocative of Renaissance Italy

A deeply moving book about a mother who makes the ultimate sacrifice to ensure the survival of her child – to give him away

A character-driven book told in two halves: the first concerning Paul, the second Cora and linked together by the London train of the title

A great thriller full of human darkness, lightened by chemistry between Robin and Cormoran

This book is many things – a love story, a tale of family and community, a discourse on loss but, most importantly, a depiction of prejudice

William Boyd delivers again – great story, vividly told, with an engaging and strong female narrator enhanced by “lost” photos

A reasonable thriller throughout with strong elements of suspense that, for me, just failed to deliver all it promised

A glimpse of the fading days of the dominance of the Hudson’s Bay Company, woven into a gripping tale of murder, lust and individual courage

A novella about a war veteran, Tom Birkin, uncovering a painting in a church in an English village over a month – a vignette of his life

Worth reading for the island setting only, which I warmed to immediately in Samson’s description, but felt much less for the characters