Author of one of this year’s quieter success stories, Big Brother, Lionel Shriver is an author who I am still waiting to receive the explosive success and popularity that she has been due for decades. Publishing her first novel in 1986 it has only been in the last eight years or so that her work has been finally gaining some attention, but there’s always room for a few more readers. I’ll be honest, I haven’t read any of these books in three or four years but I still class some of them amongst my best loved and Shriver as one of my favourite authors. I will, of course, re-read some of these one day to refresh my memory and re-evaluate them in light of what I have learnt since my first reading but I remain confident that she is really quite brilliant and one of the smartest writers I’ve read. Her control of intricate and, on times, complex narratives bears incredible ease.
Wendy House 