Promising young stage director Alex Morris is, not unnaturally, devastated by grief when her fiance, Luke, is murdered on the street by a stranger.

The result is an exhilarating collection of works which demonstrates the wide range of women’s writing as well as pushing the boundaries of fiction in a fascinating way.Unfortunately for her fans, Old Babes in the Wood can read a bit like an author’s scrapbook of thoughts and vignettes, all of which have potential but most of which fall short of sublimation.

We are experiencing delays with deliveries to many countries, but in most cases local services have now resumed. And if they get a little carried away in the process, what’s a little extra blood and guts in the grand scheme of things? When Elizabeth Flock was 20, she took a trip to Rome with friends, and the group signed up for a guided tour.

Furies is introduced by Sandi Toksvig, herself a witty and inspirational character, and the book is a fascinating read from start to finish; bracing, brilliant and rousing, the stories explore women’s lives and experiences through the lenses of the insults aimed at them. The teens –Ricky, Jono, Carly, Annika, and particularly Mel, an astute and intelligent deaf girl whose diaries punctuate the book – are inspired by the ancient tales of guilt, vengeance and self-discovery. She and Graeme Gibson are the Joint Honourary Presidents of the Rare Bird Society within BirdLife International. I’m not quite sure what I found so appealing about Alex, who, this time, I experienced as a rather bland character. she cannot cope with her old life with its layer of new grief, so she leaves everything behind: her friends, her job, her possessions, and goes off to edinburgh, where she had studied theater in her youth.

In 2014, I praised the book’s atmosphere; the story, which I found gripping; its sensitive handling of Alex’s grief; and particularly Alex as a character, writing that she’s ‘one of those fictional people you instantly wish you were best mates with’. However, in these stories, the authors have taken ownership and empowered strong, bold and vibrant women with these words. But the undeniable truth is that if I had made even the slightest effort to look outwards at these children, instead of inwards, I could have changed everything that happened.You are introduced to Detective Dan when is witnesses one such attempt at vengeance by the Fury, Megaera. Her novels are Room , The Sealed Letter , Landing , Life Mask , Slammerkin , Hood and Stir-fry ; short-story collections Astray , Three and a Half Deaths (UK ebook), Touchy Subjects , The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits , and Kissing the Witch ; and literary history including Inseparable , We Are Michael Field , and Passions Between Women as well as two anthologies that span the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries. And in The Furies Parker finds himself fighting to protect two more women as the city of Portland shuts down in the face of a global pandemic, but it may be that his clients are more capable of taking care of themselves than anyone could have imagined . I didn't find the denouement unexpected although it was flagged up as a mystery and the plot seemed to point to a surprising resolution.

I’m not sure this anthology can harness the power of a Siren or a Spitfire (to give two sample story titles) to stem the tide, but it’s certainly fun.

it's a perfectly entertaining book - it held my interest and i wanted to see how it was all going to end, but it isn't really a "mystery" nor is it even "psychological suspense. The effect of considering all this heavyweight dramatic material laden with explosive themes such as guilt and sacrifice , destiny and revenge is that one of her dysfunctional students becomes obsessed with the tragedy that overtook Alex before her arrival in Edinburgh and decides to intervene in her life, with dreadful consequences. A FUN AND FEARLESS ANTHOLOGY OF FEMINIST TALES, to celebrate Virago's 50th birthday, featuring NEW AND ORIGINAL STORIES by Margaret Atwood, Susie Boyt, Eleanor Crewes, Emma Donoghue, Stella Duffy, Linda Grant, Claire Kohda, CN Lester, Kirsty Logan, Caroline O'Donoghue, Chibundu Onuzo, Helen Oyeymi, Rachel Seiffert, Kamila Shamsie and Ali Smith - introduced by Sandi Toksvig.