Abbie Walker – Merak Magazine

Book Reviews

Dreamland by Nancy Bilyeau

ByAbbie WalkerJanuary 8, 2020

Coney Island, 1911. Peggy Battenberg, along with thousands of other revellers, is planning on spending summer at America’s playground. But Peggy, heiress to a massive fortune, is unlike the other inhabitants of Coney Island that summer; her family is in the middle of a

Book Reviews

Water Shall Refuse Them by Lucie McKnight Hardy

ByAbbie WalkerDecember 11, 2019

Disclosure: A free copy was gifted to me in exchange for an honest review. If you’re looking for some options for your Halloween TBR then I got you. Although this oppressive novel is set in a drought during high summer, the overall atmosphere makes it must-read material for

Book Reviews

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli

ByAbbie WalkerNovember 27, 2019

I am probably just one more person shouting my opinion into the void on this matter but I’m going to say it anyway: Lost Children Archive was robbed of the Women’s Prize and the Man Booker. When this book was long-listed for the Women’s Prize I hadn’t heard much about it.

Book Reviews

Salt Slow by Julia Armfield

ByAbbie WalkerOctober 9, 2019

Once upon a time, I was a person who made the bold claim: ‘I don’t like short stories.’ Imagine that, just writing off a whole genre like that! In the past whenever I dabbled in short story collections (which wasn’t even that often so I’m not actually sure how I came to this

Book Reviews

A Girl Returned by Donatella di Pietrantonio

ByAbbie WalkerSeptember 8, 2019

Translated by Ann Goldstein NB: A free copy was gifted in exchange for an honest review. We all have our favourite authors, the ones we don’t hesitate to collect their entire bibliography. Some of mine include Margaret Atwood, Ali Smith and Stephen King. But how many

Book Reviews

Happening by Annie Ernaux

ByAbbie WalkerSeptember 4, 2019

It’s unfortunate that a book centred around the author undergoing an abortion in 1963 and all the difficulties and trauma that came with it is still so startling relevant in today’s society. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll have seen all the news regarding

Book Reviews

Bodies of Light by Sarah Moss

ByAbbie WalkerAugust 21, 2019

If you’re anything like me and have hundreds of books on your to-be-read pile and a mental TBR that’s even longer, then you might do what I do and try to read as widely as possible. I can have months where all the books I read are by different authors and most of them

Book Reviews

Do You Have Kids? Life When the Answer Is No by Kate Kaufmann

ByAbbie WalkerJuly 11, 2019

This book was given to me for free in exchange for an honest review. I can guarantee that almost all woman (and a lot of men too) who don’t have kids, no matter what their age, have suffered through an awkward conversation where the other person is grilling them about their

Book Reviews

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

ByAbbie WalkerJune 29, 2019

Setting bookish resolutions at the start of each year is one of my favourite activities, and even if I don’t end up achieving every one of my goals, I still love the sensation of planning them, making lists, and setting TBR piles. We’re nearing the middle of the year now and

Book Reviews

The Remainder by Alia Trabucco Zerán

ByAbbie WalkerMay 7, 2019

The Remainder by Alia Trabucco Zerán, translated by Sophie Hughes NB: This book was gifted to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I’m on somewhat of a mission to read as many of the Man Booker International Prize long-list as I possibly can,

Book Reviews

Small Island by Andrea Levy

ByAbbie WalkerApril 10, 2019

As an avid browser of charity shops and second-hand bookshops, I come across certain books on a regular basis and, without even reading the synopsis, judge them or even write them off completely. Surely there must be a reason for a book to be in every single charity shop I

Author: Abbie Walker