Book Reviews

Pandora by Susan Stokes-Chapman

Reviewed by Karen Lane, Need a Read I love books set in the late 1700’s/ early 1800’s. It was a time when absolutely anything was possible. Curses and superstitions were very real. If you could d...

Love You Madly by Lucinda Hooley and Daisy Jones

Reviewed by Karen Lane, Need a Read South African authors, Lucinda Hooley and Daisy Jones have been friends for years and back in the day they were avid letter-writers. Re-reading these colourful...

Christopher by Nozuko Siyotula

Reviewed by Karen Lane, Need a Read What a wonderful way to start the new year – a local debut novel written in a fresh voice by a young South African while she was working in China! Christophe...

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

Reviewed by Karen Lane, Need a Read Ooooo this book is as delicious as the Black Cake of its title! I couldn’t put it down. Eleanor Bennet is dead. When her estranged children, Byron and Benny, a...

Again, Rachel by Marian Keyes

Reviewed by Karen Lane, Need a Read As I’ve mentioned before I adore Marian Keyes so I find it impossible to be objective about her books. I always open up her latest expecting to LOVE it and I a...

The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont

Reviewed by Karen Lane, Need a Read Nina de Gramont’s The Christie Affair is the most intriguing, clever and unputdownable novel that you’ll read this year. It’s a story of star-crossed lovers,...

Wish You Were Here By Jodi Picoult

Reviewed by Karen Lane, Need a Read Diana O’Toole is perfectly on track. She will be married by thirty, done having kids by thirty-five, and move out to the New York City suburbs, all while climb...

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Reviewed by Karen Lane, Need a Read Oh, the joy of this wonderful new read from Anthony Doerr who won the Pulitzer Prize for All the Light We Cannot See. This is just such a satisfactory read whi...

The Lincoln Highway By Amor Towles

Reviewed by Karen Lane, Need a Read What a wonderful way to end the year! Amor Towles’s The Lincoln Highway is an absolute gift of a book, in fact, it’s perfect for Christmas and it's unquestiona...

The Promise by Damon Galgut

Reviewed by Karen Lane, Need a Read The Promise by Damon Galgut has won the coveted Booker Prize for 2021! He’s only the third South African to have won it in the Award’s prestigious 50 years of ...