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Review Archive
Here you can find all of our past book reviews.


Review of When We Were Sisters by Fatimah Asghar
Written in lyrical prose with features of blackout poetry, this a debut that plays with form to tell the story of three orphaned siblings...
thedebutdigest
1 min read


Review of The Villa by Ruth Kelly
What could possibly be a better summer read than a thriller version of your favourite guilty pleasure TV show? Do you find yourself at a...
thedebutdigest
1 min read


Review of Speak of the Devil by Rose Wilding
We begin this story with seven women transfixed by a man's severed head. Each woman has a distinct link to this man, but the real...
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1 min read


Review of Okay Days by Jenny Mustard
A love story like no other, this novel is masterful in detailing what it's like to navigate messy relationships and finding a home in the...
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2 min read


Review of Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth
Sunburn is a coming of age, Sapphic romance which will leave you flushed and swooning. Basked within the stifling heat of Crossmore, a...
thedebutdigest
2 min read


Review of Everything's Fine by Cecilia Rabess
Our story opens on the night of Obama's election. Our protagonist, Jess, is delighted with the result, yet our soon-to-be romantic...
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1 min read


Review of The Nursery by Szilvia Molnar
The Nursery is an intoxicating psychological novel which revolves around one woman's experience of the birth of her first child,...
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1 min read


Review of Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen (Translated by Megan Turney)
When snobby literary author, Hannah Krause-Bendix, becomes frustrated with writer's block, she projects her frustration onto acclaimed...
thedebutdigest
2 min read


Review of Sylvia by Maithreyi Karnoor
Sylvia is unlike anything I’ve read before; a piece of beautiful prose punctuated by moments of poetry and dictated by a narrative that...
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2 min read


Review of Sushi and Sea Lions by Rachel Corsini
Prima ballerina Daniela switches up her New York apartment for her home back in Queens when a career-ending injury forces her to leave...
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2 min read


Review of The Girls of Summer by Katie Bishop
This scorching, sun-soaked debut is the book of the summer. Written in a dual timeline, the novel explores the coming of age story of...
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1 min read


Review of My Life as a Chameleon by Diana Anyakwo
This is a strong YA debut from Anyakwo, whose new book My Life as a Chameleon sensitively explores family dynamics, the difficulties that...
thedebutdigest
2 min read


Review of Concerning My Daughter by Kim Hye-jin (Translated from Korean by Jamie Chang)
Concerning My Daughter is a slice of literary translated fiction, translated from Korean by Jamie Chang, where a micro lens is zoomed...
thedebutdigest
1 min read


Review of Arthur and Teddy are Coming Out by Ryan Love
Arthur is a 79-year-old grandfather who has been keeping a secret for as long as he can remember. He's gay, and he's ready to come out to...
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1 min read


Review of The Maiden by Kate Foster
Set in Edinburgh, 1679, Foster emerges us within Scotland's sordid streets and the respectable classes within society to retell the...
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1 min read


Review of This Bird Has Flown by Susanna Hoffs
As a singer myself, I’m always interested in authors that bring the world of music into their storytelling. Books that come to mind are...
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2 min read


Review of Death of a Bookseller by Alice Slater
This darkly comical novel is a witty and sharp observation of the art of bookselling, human connection, and obsession. Told through the...
thedebutdigest
1 min read


Review of Temper by Phoebe Walker
Phoebe Walker's debut follows an unnamed young woman who's recently moved to the Netherlands with her husband. While he's out at his new...
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1 min read


Review of Rosewater by Liv Little
With the recent sad news of gal-dem, the magazine that championed people of colour from marginalised genders, closing its doors, this...
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1 min read


Review of No Life for a Lady by Hannah Dolby
28 and unmarried, Violet Hamilton is worrying her father. It is 1896 after all, and an independent woman is a dangerous thing to be. But...
thedebutdigest
1 min read
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