In Jamaica in 1976 a group of gunmen stormed Bob Marley’s house, and although the singer survived, the men were never caught. This incident forms the centre point of Marlon James’ stunning A Brief History of Seven Killings. In the novel, James fictionalises the build up to the shooting, and its long reaching aftermath, as…
Book review: Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Have you ever had to keep quiet about a book by an author you love? And when I say keep quiet, I mean you can’t talk about its plot with anyone, or analyse the characters, or just gush about how amazing the author is. It’s difficult, let me tell you. In the weeks since I…
Book review: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
I adore Sarah J. Maas’ Throne of Glass series, which features a complex, kick-arse heroine, lots of action and smart writing. Her new series, which kicks off with A Court of Thorns and Roses, contains many of the same good points, but wrapped up in a new, original fantasy story. When Feyre kills a wolf in…
Book review: Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz
Everyone knows who James Bond is, or at least they think they do. The James Bond I know is the James Bond of the films, particularly those featuring Pierce Brosnan or Daniel Craig as the man with a license to kill. But that James Bond – suave, smooth, likeable if a little angsty and high…
Book review: A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
If you go by social media, Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life is either the most amazing, emotional, poignant book ever written, or it’s an ill constructed, ridiculous, far too long brick, and there is no in between. Well, I’m here to say that I’m the in between. There are moments of A Little Life I…
Book review: I Call Myself a Feminist: The View from Twenty-Five Women Under Thirty
I call myself a feminist. I call myself a feminist because gender equality is something we’re still striving for even in 2015, because women are still judged and treated in different ways to men and those ways are often demeaning, because being compared to a woman or female characteristics is usually a way to insult…
Theatre review: Kinky Boots at the Adelphi
The most beautiful thing in the world… is a shoe.Or at least, that’s what the opening number of Kinky Boots tells us, and I find it difficult to disagree after seeing some of the beautiful boots in the London production, currently on at the Adelphi Theatre.Telling the story of a young man who takes on…
TV recap: Agent Carter season one, episode eight – Valediction
Previously on Agent Carter, the SSR finally clued in to the fact that Peggy was not a traitor, when she revealed she had a vial of Steve Rogers’ blood. The evil Dr Ivchenko hypnotised Chief into stealing a deadly weapon for him, and left Chief wearing a bomb. Chief sacrificed himself, while Dr Ivchenko and…
TV recap: Agent Carter season one, episode seven – Snafu
Previously on Agent Carter, Dr Ivchenko revealed himself, just to us, to be working for Leviathan. Meanwhile Peggy worked out that Dottie is a Russian assassin, but before she could do anything about it, she was caught by the SSR, who worked out that she’s been working to her own agenda all along. “You’re awfully…
Sarah Shaffi 