This is a strange book. I began reading in hopes that the author’s intention was to use fiction to teach the meanings of the major arcana or greater trumps of the tarot, but having finished the novel I have serious doubts on that score. The story seems as mysterious and open to interpretation as the […]

In spite of the strapline on the front cover: “In the bestselling tradition of The Alchemist “, whatever that means exactly (“In the tradition of the bestselling novel The Alchemist perhaps? “) I was so tempted by the design and format (small, almost square hardback, delicious colours and patterns), that I bought the book. Generally, […]

The novel opens with a sentence of two words – one of the best hooks I’ve ever read. ‘Hypnotize her,’ says a drunken student, shoving a leggy sophomore towards our hero-to-be, Martin Finch. They’re at a party in Emerson’s student lounge in the 1920s, where illicit alcohol is pretty freely available; a crowd gathers and […]

The story centres around Rufus, whose life is a mess. His wife has left him for another man, he’s just bought a run-down cottage by mistake, and the bookshop he’s committed to looking after for a friend of a friend has turned out to be decidedly occult in orientation and way off his wavelength. But […]