George Cochrane
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georgeccochrane.bsky.social
George Cochrane
@georgeccochrane.bsky.social
140 followers 160 following 46 posts
✍ TLS, Spectator, Telegraph, Literary Review, FT, Prospect
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georgeccochrane.bsky.social
Two reviews of mine in the Telegraph's fiction round-up for July: of Thomas McMullan's second novel and Andrev Walden's first.

www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-t...
This darkly funny Swedish novel presents a bleak vision of masculinity
Our critics review July’s latest fiction, from a sprawling family epic to an ambitious apocalyptic novel
www.telegraph.co.uk
July 27, 2025 at 5:50 PM
georgeccochrane.bsky.social
Great book alert: my review of Alexander Starritt's 'Drayton and Mackenzie' for the FT.
www.ft.com/content/cb54...
Drayton and Mackenzie — a moving tale of male friendship in the 21st century
Alexander Starritt’s best novel yet follows the lives of two entrepreneurial graduates against a backdrop of the 2008 crash to Covid and beyond
www.ft.com
June 26, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Reposted by George Cochrane
saltpublishing.com
An ill wind: Poppyland, by @djtaylorwriter.bsky.social , reviewed in The Spectator by George Cochrane

‘Norfolk life looks quietly bleak in these carefully worked short stories of broken homes, precarious employment, dwindling expectations and torpor’
An ill wind: Poppyland, by D.J. Taylor, reviewed
As the term refers to the stretch of the north Norfolk coastline between Sheringham and Mundesley, only one of the stories in D.J. Taylor’s engrossing new collection strictly takes place in ‘Poppyland...
www.spectator.co.uk
June 5, 2025 at 7:18 AM
Reposted by George Cochrane
saltpublishing.com
More reviews of @djtaylorwriter.bsky.social’s sensational Poppyland – here's Harry Cochrane in The Tablet. #Booksky
June 4, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Reposted by George Cochrane
drjamesbailey.bsky.social
The cat’s out of the bag! 🐈‍⬛

LIKE A CAT LOVES A BIRD, my weird, slippery biography of Muriel Spark, will be out in April next year.

A huge thank you to the team at @sceptrebooks.bsky.social for helping me bring it to life.

Please tell your libraries and favourite bookshops!
Sceptre triumphs in four-way auction for 'distinctive and gripping' new biography of Muriel Spark Sceptre has triumphed in a four-way auction for Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark, James Bailey's biography of Muriel Spark. Editorial director Charlotte Humphery bought British Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from John Ash at CAA. Sceptre will publish the book in physical, e-book and audio formats in April 2026, to mark the 20th anniversary of Spark's death. "As sly, nimble and elegant as Spark's own work, Like a Cat Loves a Bird is a thrilling new perspective on a remarkable life and career of one of Britain's greatest writers," the synopsis says. "From her childhood in Edinburgh to her final years in Tuscany - via South Africa, London, New York and Rome - it traces a light-footed journey around the world and through her strange and magnificent bibliography. It tells an irresistible story of transformation, wit and fierce determination and makes a passionate case for this vital modern artist." Humphery said: "As a keen reader, I thought I knew and admired Muriel Spark. But Like a Cat Loves a Bird has shown me how much more there is to understand and adore about this fierce, spiky and incomparable writer. I am obsessed and it is all thanks to James Bailey, who has written the kind of biography that I most love - one that is both deeply researched and knowledgeable but also vibrant, distinctive and gripping." Bailey added: "For a long time, I've thought of Muriel Spark as modern literature's finest shapeshifter. Over the course of her 88 years, and in the 20 years since her death, she has remained elusive, contradictory and endlessly fascinating; just when you think you have the measure of her, she slips out of sight before reinventing herself anew. Getting to tell the story - or rather the many stories - of her life and work has been a writing experience like no other." A photograph of Muriel Spark holding a black cat and smiling at the camera
April 29, 2025 at 9:50 AM
georgeccochrane.bsky.social
And so my 'The Annotated Bruce Springsteen's Thunder Road' project begins... (from Ross Macdonald's The Drowning Pool).
April 28, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Reposted by George Cochrane
judecook.bsky.social
*Exciting news alert!* So I've started a small press called CONDUIT BOOKS, publishing literary fiction and memoir, focussing (initially) on male authors. You can find us at @conduitbooks.co.uk on Instagram. Submissions open 1st -31st May. @thebookseller.com www.thebookseller.com/news/new-ind...
April 28, 2025 at 8:34 AM
georgeccochrane.bsky.social
Went to post a birthday card on behalf of (and lovingly handmade by) my partner this morning and inadvertently posted it in the letterbox-adjacent bin, from which it was irretrievable... I honestly don't know how Gen Z-ers are supposed to tell the difference, in my defence.
April 7, 2025 at 5:19 PM
georgeccochrane.bsky.social
Benjamin Markovits's excellent new novel 'The Rest of Our Lives' is out today. My review in the Telegraph:
www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-t...
Tired of your marriage? Take this novel’s advice
The Rest of Our Lives, Benjamin Markovits’s superb 12th novel, follows one man’s ‘crisis’ road trip with touches of humour and devastation
www.telegraph.co.uk
March 27, 2025 at 8:33 AM
georgeccochrane.bsky.social
Honoured to appear in the third and (sadly) final edition of Backstory magazine. It's a beautiful publication, so well worth getting hold of a copy (at their website or in store).
February 25, 2025 at 9:52 PM
georgeccochrane.bsky.social
The full five stars from me for Laurent Binet's epistolary murder mystery set in Renaissance Florence.
www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-t...
A magnificent murder mystery set in Michelangelo’s Florence
Perspectives, a thrilling epistolary novel by Laurent Binet, sees Giorgio Vasari investigate the murder of a controversial artist
www.telegraph.co.uk
February 13, 2025 at 6:04 PM
georgeccochrane.bsky.social
My thoughts on the new Hiromi Kawakami, 'Under the Eye of the Big Bird.'
www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-t...
The strangest Japanese novel you’ll ever read
In her novel Under the Eye of the Big Bird, Hiromi Kawakami has ludic fun with clones and hovercraft – but the writing could be sharper
www.telegraph.co.uk
January 6, 2025 at 6:29 PM
georgeccochrane.bsky.social
I reviewed Rumaan Alam's frustrating novel 'Entitlement' for the FT.
www.ft.com/content/2f95...
Entitlement by Rumaan Alam — the dark side of the American dream
A young woman’s noble ambitions are compromised by the corrupting influence of money
www.ft.com
October 3, 2024 at 2:35 PM
georgeccochrane.bsky.social
My FT review of Camille Bordas's brilliant novel 'The Material'.
www.ft.com/content/a6a9...
The Material — wisecracks from the edge
Camille Bordas’s ensemble piece, set at a stand-up comedy school, has much to say about how we live now
www.ft.com
July 25, 2024 at 5:11 PM
georgeccochrane.bsky.social
My Telegraph review of Anita Desai's beguiling new novella.
www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-t...
If this is Anita Desai’s swansong, it’s a magnificent way to go
In Anita Desai’s entrancing novella, Rosarita, a student living in San Miguel uncovers her mother’s secret past life
www.telegraph.co.uk
June 20, 2024 at 5:44 PM
georgeccochrane.bsky.social
Henry Miller prefacing H. E. Bates surely has to be one of the unlikelier literary collaborations.
April 3, 2024 at 11:03 AM
georgeccochrane.bsky.social
My FT review of Jonathan Buckley's fascinating new novel 'Tell'.
www.ft.com/content/13fc...
Jonathan Buckley’s Tell — truth and lies
Composed entirely in speech, this inventive, award-winning novel deftly explores the stories we tell ourselves and other people
www.ft.com
March 7, 2024 at 3:07 PM
georgeccochrane.bsky.social
Joni Mitchell got the idea for Both Sides Now from Henderson the Rain King!?!
March 5, 2024 at 10:33 AM
georgeccochrane.bsky.social
I reviewed Howard Jacobson's latest novel, 'What Will Survive of Us', for the Telegraph.
www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-t...
Howard Jacobson’s midlife marriage story has emotions in spades
What Will Survive of Us, the British writer’s 17th novel, sees a couple tumble into love, and then make a new way in the world together
www.telegraph.co.uk
January 24, 2024 at 5:15 PM
georgeccochrane.bsky.social
I couldn't get enough of Colin Barrett's debut novel, 'Wild Houses'. My review in this week's TLS:
www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/wil...
Violent masculinity observed in an exhilarating thriller
It is the weekend of the annual Ballina Salmon Festival, the high point in the calendar of this depressed County Mayo town. Seventeen-year-old Nicky and
www.the-tls.co.uk
January 17, 2024 at 5:15 PM
georgeccochrane.bsky.social
I don't quite know how the library of David Lodge has ended up in my local charity shop, but I'm here for it.
November 27, 2023 at 4:38 PM
georgeccochrane.bsky.social
I was a big fan of Camilla Grudova's last book; her latest, not so much. My review of 'The Coiled Serpent' in this week's TLS:
www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the...
Clever premisses in search of character and plot
For a book that calls itself a collection of short stories, and promises as many as sixteen of them on its contents page, Camilla Grudova’s The Coiled
www.the-tls.co.uk
November 22, 2023 at 5:42 PM
georgeccochrane.bsky.social
Rediscovering this beauty. One of the most immaculate pop albums ever made - by surely one of the least cool artists.
October 21, 2023 at 4:36 PM
georgeccochrane.bsky.social
Much to my surprise, the first in John Boyne's terribly pretentious-sounding quartet of element-themed novels, 'Water', is really quite good. My review now in the Telegraph:
www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-t...
An abusive husband, a lost child, and a subtle new John Boyne novel
In Water, the first of a new elementally-titled quartet, the Irish novelist smartly creates a protagonist fleeing the spectres of her past
www.telegraph.co.uk
October 20, 2023 at 1:03 PM
Reposted by George Cochrane
john-self.bsky.social
Tomorrow is the centenary of the birth of puckish Italian polymath Italo Calvino. I had a good deal of fun revisiting some of his books for this little guide on where to start reading him:
Where to start reading Italo Calvino's books
The best books to begin with, from one of literature’s most compelling and idiosyncratic minds.
www.penguin.co.uk
October 14, 2023 at 9:14 AM