The place to find past issues of the Your Next Book newsletter
– my take on some of the outstanding writing on my bookshelf

The best dystopian writing takes the undercurrents lurking in contemporary attitudes and develops them into concrete actions. Hard Rain was published in April 2024.

The Book Thief is special. It’s narrated by Death. ‘ HERE IS A SMALL FACT. You are going to die. I am in all truthfulness attempting to be cheerful about this whole topic, though most people find themselves hindered in believing me, no matter my protestations. Please, trust me. I most definitely can be cheerful. Agreeable. Affable. And that’s only the A’s. Just don’t ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me.’ So true. This story is not nice. It does not end hap

​​ “Lord what fools these mortals be!” Puck, Midsummer Night’s Dream Bernard Cornwell is best known for his Napoleonic War books about...