C. S. Burrough

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel My rating:  5 out of 5 stars Hilary Mantel surpassed herself with this new and unique take on Thomas Cromwell: ze...

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind My rating:  5 out of 5 stars Set in 18th century France, this is the story of olfactory ...

Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings by Alison Weir My rating:  4 out of 5 stars Like all Weir biographies this delivered and more, for me. Th...

Atonement by Ian McEwan  My rating:  5 out of 5 stars This historical family saga is one of my favourite literary works, which surprises me ...

Chocolat by Joanne Harris  My rating:  4 out of 5 stars I gained kilos reading this book (is that what they call a spoiler alert?). Chocolat...

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë My rating:  4 out of 5 stars My first reading of this was under force, at school. I loathed it. When I mor...

Loved Ones: Pen Portraits by Diana Mitford Mosley My rating:  4 out of 5 stars Charming reminiscences by arguably the most eloquent publishe...

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins My rating:  4 out of 5 stars This is a great read and will, I s uspect, be more confronting to agnostics...

Natasha: The Biography of Natalie Wood by Suzanne Finstad My rating:  4 out of 5 stars Anyone who even only saw 'Gypsy' (1962) would...

The Stranger by Albert Camus My rating:  4 out of 5 stars Almost anyone can relate to life's absurdities which French Nobel Prize-winnin...

Missus by Ruth Park My rating:  4 out of 5 stars Like all exceptional novelists, the late Ruth Park employed a simplistic yet captivating in...

Hard Road: The Life and Times of Stevie Wright by Glenn Goldsmith My rating:  5 out of 5 stars It was the '60s. I was a boy growing up i...

After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie by Jean Rhys My rating:  5 out of 5 stars This is the delectable Jean Rhys at her very best. She has our central...

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger My rating:  4 out of 5 stars This was the first book I read as a young adult. An inexperienced reade...

The Gunpowder Plot: Terror and Faith in 1605 by Antonia Fraser  My rating:  4 out of 5 stars Whatever Lady Antonia Fraser wrote about - I...

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou My rating:  3 out of 5 stars Maya Angelou's recollection of her first seventeen years ha...

Two Queens in One Isle: The Deadly Relationship of Elizabeth I & Mary Queen of Scots by Alison Plowden My rating:  4 out of 5 stars Alis...

Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse  My rating:  3 out of 5 stars This popular 1959 novel was adapted into a successful three act West End play s...

She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth by Helen Castor My rating:  4 out of 5 stars This quality writing explores a stimul...

Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain  My rating:  4 out of 5 stars I relished James M. Cain's 1941 classic from which two great screen adapta...

Angela’s Ashes  by Frank McCourt My rating:  4 out of 5 stars One of my all-time favourite reads, this Pulitzer Prize-winner is far from you...

Death and The Virgin: Elizabeth, Dudley and the Mysterious Fate of Amy Robsart by Chris Skidmore  My rating:  4 out of 5 stars Having consum...