Rosh's Reviews

AUTHOR: Silvia Moreno-Garcia GENRE: Horror-Fantasy PUBLICATION DATE: July 15, 2025 RATING: 2.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A multi-generational horror-suspense focussing on three women and their dark experiences with witchcraft. Good historical atmosphere and a couple of compelling characters. Needlessly intricate, guessable antagonists, dragged pacing. One incestual relationship (not sure if it’s culturally/historically accurate). The horror comes only in bits and spurts. I liked some parts of this novel but wasn’t too impressed. Not sure if this was because of the audio version. Plot Preview: 1998. Minerva is a graduate student who wants to write her dissertation on the life of Beatrice Tremblay, a talented but relatively obscure horror author with one famous novel and who had been a student at the same college in the 1930s. As Minerva tries to find more information on Beatrice, she finds herself grappling with the same dark forces that Beatrice once did and referred to in her novel, which...

AUTHOR: Rosie Hewlett GENRE: Mythological Retelling PUBLICATION DATE: March 17, 2026 RATING: 1.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A Greek-mythology retelling loosely inspired by the story of Penelope (the wife of Odysseus) and narrated via a minor character. Not faithful to the original myth – this could go either way with readers. Lyrical writing, flawed characters, too much of romance and attraction, too much of feminine rage. Plenty of triggering content. I usually love this author’s works, but this one didn’t end up impressing me. My review is more bitter than sweet, but it is an outlier opinion. Plot Preview: The worlds of Melantho and Penelope have always intersected, even though the girls live in different social circles. Melantho is an enslaved girl in the palace of Sparta while Penelope is a princess. When a friendship blooms between them, the royals don’t approve and Penelope is sent away after being made to witness Melantho’s punishment for dreaming beyond her station. When their paths...

AUTHOR: Valeria Angela Pisi ILLUSTRATOR: Francesc Rovira GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: May 12, 2026 RATING: 3.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A picture book about a princess who doesn’t want to be rescued. Great concept, good execution, cute illustrations. A decent story that upturns gender stereotypes but has some problematic elements as well. Recommended to be read with discussion. Plot Preview: When the princess is in the dragon’s lair, the king calls all the knights in the land and makes a grand declaration: anyone who saves the princess will be rewarded with all the treasures of the kingdom. Several knights try their luck. But when they reach the dragon’s castle, the princess makes it clear that she doesn’t want to be rescued. Now what? The cover first caught my attention, and the blurb ensured that I would definitely read this book. It’s always nice to see stories where princesses don’t want to be or need to be rescued. Plus, this book is the winner of the ninth ...

AUTHOR: Kirsten Miller GENRE: Fantasy PUBLICATION DATE: October 7, 2025 RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A multi-timeline fantasy featuring powerful witches with a modern-day agenda. Many intriguing (female) characters, many interesting subplots. First 75% excellent, final 25% a bit too wild! A creative combination of themes not often seen together. Recommended. Plot Preview: Wild Hill, an isolated place at the tip of Long Island, has long been haunted by a ghost. For centuries, she didn’t allow anyone to settle there, until a young Scottish girl with strange powers, Sadie Duncan, was permitted to stay. Five generations of Sadie’s descendants have now known this magical place as their home, each generation more “gifted” than its predecessor. But after a terrible incident, the latest generation of Duncan women left their ancestral residence. Brigid moved to California and used her dark talent to carve a successful acting career. Her sister Phoebe settled at a remote ranch in Texas wo...

AUTHOR: Elinor Cleghorn GENRE: History, Feminism. PUBLICATION DATE: March 17, 2026 RATING: 3.5 stars. In a Nutshell; Not a book about ‘mothering’ but about ‘motherhood’. Informative, but slightly dense at times.  Recommended to those more interested into seeing how perceptions about pregnancy, midwifery and the like have evolved through the ages. The tagline says this book is about ‘Reclaiming the Radical History of Mothering’. Dictionaries define ‘mothering’ as the activity of caring for and protecting children or other people. So I picked this book up assuming it to be a depiction of the evolving perceptions of childcare over the centuries. However, the book focuses more on motherhood i.e. the literal act of becoming a mother. So it includes pregnancy, labour, and everything else connected to reproduction post-conception.  It does fair justice to these topics, beginning from mothers in mythology, and moving steadily down the centuries covering religious beliefs, social expec...

AUTHOR: Vicky Alvear Shecter GENRE: Historical Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: January 20, 2026 RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A historical fiction set in Ancient Rome and inspired by true events. Gritty and disturbing. Slow but atmospheric. Good character development and build-up to the finale. Slightly repetitive. I’m somewhat undecided on my feelings about the ending. Recommended. Plot Preview: 216 BCE. Sixteen-year-old Mia has been serving as one of the Vestal Virgins for more than a decade already. Though this wasn’t a decision she made by choice, she performs her role with diligence. When she hears of the huge defeat of the Roman Army at the Battle of Cannae, she is sad for the 50000 fallen soldiers, but more than that, she mourns the death of her childhood love Attius in that battle. The priests declare that the only reason the gods abandoned Rome at Cannae was the breaking of the vow of chastity by the youngest Vestal Virgin. Mia knows that it is up to her alone to save her life...

AUTHOR: Jacqueline Harpman TRANSLATOR: Ros Schwartz GENRE: Dystopian/Post-apocalyptic. PUBLICATION DATE: January 1, 1995 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A brilliant post-apocalyptic fiction about a group of women in a deserted world. Innovative plotline, excellent character development, vivid imagery, thought-provoking writing. A fabulous combination of bleakness and hope. No closure. Much recommended, though not to all. Plot Preview: An unknown time. An unknown place. An underground bunker where forty women reside. They have no memories of how they got there, or of how long they have been there. Most have minimal memories of their lives before this endless, monotonous captivity. The only exception is a teenaged girl who has absolutely no recollection of ever being outside the bunker, and hence doesn’t even know what the others are missing. When an opportunity presents itself for a change, this young girl is the first one to grab it, acting as the beacon of hope for future survival...

AUTHOR: Emma TRANSLATOR: Una Dimitrijevic SERIES: Un autre regard, #3-4 GENRE: Graphic Nonfiction PUBLICATION DATE: March 3, 2020 RATING: 3.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A graphic novel highlighting certain feminist and social issues in modern society. This volume collects books 3 and 4 of the author’s feminist comics series. The tone is much more aggressive this time and the content is also too text-intensive. While this raises some good points, I didn’t like it as much as the first volume. Author Emma runs a podcast as well as creates comic strips aiming to generate insightful queries and discussions on contemporary societal culture. She has published four books in her “Un autre regard” series, the latter two of which are combined in this English edition. I don’t really have much to add on this as most of my review for the first volume, "The Mental Load" , is applicable to this volume as well. The main content is divided into nine topic-wise chapters, with a much greater focus ...

AUTHOR: Emma SERIES: Un autre regard, #1-2 GENRE: Graphic Nonfiction PUBLICATION DATE: October 23, 2018 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A graphic comic highlighting several systemic social and feminist problems in modern society, especially but not only related to women and women’s rights. This collects books 1 and 2 of the author’s feminist comics series. As the tagline indicates, this is “feminist”, and in the right way, not in the male-bashing way. Some of the topic choices were unexpected, but most left a mark. The translation didn’t satisfy me a few times. A worthy read, nonetheless. Author Emma is a Parisian running a successful podcast as well as creating comic strips that make us question many things society takes for granted. She has published four books in her “Un autre regard” series, the first two of which are combined in this English edition. The book works like a social manifesto, making a call for action not through unjustified aggression or finger-pointing, but throu...

AUTHOR: Roisín O’Donnell NARRATOR: Louisa Harland GENRE: Contemporary Irish Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: February 18, 2025 RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: A contemporary Irish drama about a woman’s attempt to get away from her abusive marriage. Hits the right mark in terms of characters and plot, and most of all, in the depiction of psychological domestic violence. The last quarter was a bit frustrating, but other than that, this debut is worth a try. To anyone who ignorantly asks such women sufferers, “Why don’t you just walk out of your marriage?”, you need to read this novel. Plot Preview: 2018. Dublin, Ireland. One day, after what can be called a final-straw incident, Ciara takes a life-changing decision. She packs a few essentials, grabs her two toddlers Sophie and Ella (aged four and two, respectively), and walks away from her marriage. In a city struggling with homelessness, starting anew, especially with no savings and no family nearby, isn't easy. But Ciara is determined that...

AUTHOR: Luciana Cimino ILLUSTRATOR: Sergio Algozzino GENRE: Graphic Novel PUBLICATION DATE: March 2, 2021 RATING: 2 stars. In a Nutshell: A graphic novel focussing on Nellie Bly. Had tremendous potential considering the impactful life of the investigative journalist who was so far ahead of her times, but the execution didn’t work well for me. Offered just a cursory glance at her achievements. The illustrations were somewhat good. But the overall result was a disappointment. This graphic novel was originally published in Italian in 2019 under the title ‘Nellie Bly’. This English translation was published in 2021. Many of you might already be aware of the legendary Nellie Bly. Ever since I heard of her, I have been in awe of her spirit, determination and courage. One of the pioneering female investigative journalists, she is most known for two things: her solo journey around the world following Jules Verne’s novel “Around the World in Eighty Days”, and her pretence of being mad so as t...

AUTHOR: Madeline Martin GENRE: Historical Fiction. PUBLICATION DATE: August 26, 2025 RATING: 3.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A historical fiction that goes much beyond a secret book society. Partly a book about books. Mostly a book about male machoism and female frustration. Interesting female characters, stock male characters. Goes wide rather than deep in themes and topics. The final quarter is quite dark and yet the strongest part of the book. A good novel, as long as you aren’t expecting a light-hearted story about a book club. Plot Preview: 1895. England. Three women receive an unexpected, strangely-worded invitation for afternoon tea from Lady Duxbury. Each of the women is trapped in their social role in some way or the other. Lady Duxbury intends for them to meet regularly under the façade of a casual get-together, and find what they need, be it friendship, solace, books, or freedom. Eleanor Clarke, who is of noble birth, is married to an abusive nouveau riche blinded by his new wealt...

AUTHOR: M.J. Buckman GENRE: General Fiction. PUBLICATION DATE: July 1, 2025 RATING: 1.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A contemporary fiction about a middle-aged library assistant who discovers a new purpose in life after learning about some unknown historical women through letters. This book could have been outstanding given its premise, but the execution was truly lacklustre in every way, whether writing or plot development or character detailing or the “letters”. I am so disappointed at the missed opportunity because with better writing and editing, this would have been an easy recommendation to make. Plot Preview: Helena, who is in her mid-fifties, is a library assistant but not so happy with her job as it isn't exactly what she thought it would be – she truly thought she would get more time to read. When a library patron, eighty-six-year-old Cynthia, comes to Helena with a series of letters collected by her late historian daughter and written by unknown women achievers from across hist...