The Accidental Tourist Anne Tyler First published in 1985 by Knopf Helen Joyce says: “The Accidental Tourist, by Anne Tyler, is about Macon Leary, the author of a series of guides for business travellers who would rather stay at home. Among the hints he gives his readers: never take anything…
About Helen Helen Joyce is The Economist’s Brazil Bureau Chief, based in São Paulo. Between 2005 and 2009 she was the paper’s education correspondent, based in London, before which she edited Plus, an online magazine about mathematics, for the University of Cambridge, and Significance, the quarterly magazine of the Royal…
Picnic at Hanging Rock Directed by Peter Weir and released in Australia in 1975. The film is adapted from Joan Lindsay’s novel of the same name (published in 1967). Michelle McGrane says: “What we see and what we seem are but a dream, a dream within a dream.” (Miranda) “On…
About Michelle Michelle McGrane is the author of The Suitable Girl (published by Pindrop Press in the United Kingdom and Modjaji Books in South Africa). She lives in Johannesburg and blogs at Peony Moon. Michelle’s website: Peony Moon • One thing that’s always worth getting out of bed for Unexpected…
The Sea-Thing Child Russell Hoban, illustrated by Patrick Benson 1999, re-published in 2000 by Walker Kona Macphee says: “This 1999 “children’s story” from Russell Hoban, poignantly illustrated in muted seaside colours by Patrick Benson, is one of my favourite books. The sea-thing child is a young creature washed up on…
About Katy Katy Evans-Bush is the author of Me and the Dead (Salt) and Oscar & Henry (Rack Press). She edits the online literary magazine Horizon Review, blogs at Baroque in Hackney, and tutors independently and for the Poetry School. Her new collection, Egg Printing Explained, will be published by…
Thumbprint Joe Hill First published 2007 in Postscripts 10 Mark Harding says: “The opening sentences give a taster of the subject matter: The first thumbprint came in the mail. Mal was eight months back from Abu Ghraib, where she had done things she regretted. The story is moving and fearless,…
About Mark Mark Harding is the editor of Music For Another World, a collection of fantasy and science fiction stories on the theme of music that was reviewed by Interzone as “one of the most exciting and original collections in years”. The anthology includes Neil Williamson‘s Arrhythmia, which has made…
Greenvoe George Mackay Brown First published in 1972 Alastair Cook says: “My sunday best is “Greenvoe” by George Mackay Brown, published in 1972. He was writing it when I was born in 1971. George Mackay Brown, the Orcadian poet, author and dramatist, is better known for his poetry and his…
About Alastair Alastair Cook is a fine art photographer, filmmaker and RIBA Conservation Accredited architect. He writes: “My film and photographic work is guided by my knowledge, skill and experience as a conservation architect: the work is rooted in place and the intrinsic connections between people, land and heritage. I…
