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Lindsay Quayle - Editorial Expert
Lindsay Quayle was always that child pleading for an extra half an hour of reading time before lights out. It was no surprise to anyone that she went on to study English Literature once she’d worked her way through every book she could lay her hands on at home and at school.
After a spell of time in Finance, the draw of books brought her back to her real passion; she finished her masters in Publishing Studies and spent time working as a bookseller before landing a role at non-fiction publisher, Mainstream. Several years later, she went on to work for Scottish Book Trust and had the enviable job of writing about the life-changing benefits of reading and stories. She was also responsible for curating book lists for organisations including Children in Scotland, Education Scotland and LGBT Youth Scotland, as well as writing regular reviews for Children’s Books Ireland and other internal publications.
Lindsay is now a freelance writer and editor with her own company, Pencil Press. She has never lost her love for a good novel, and still wishes there was an extra half an hour at the end of each day for one more chapter.
Latest Reviews By Lindsay Quayle
When five-year-old Monica is removed from her volatile life with an alcoholic mother and placed in the safety of a respected foster family, it should have marked the start of a fresh beginning for the Scottish youngster. Sadly, this wasn’t the case. After the traumatic events of her very early childhood – and years of abuse at the hands of her brutal foster family – Monica is left with serious psychological scars that will haunt her for decades. It’s only years later that she finds the strength to channel her experiences into a positive force for ... View Full Review
As a child, Hannah Bourne-Taylor was fascinated by the natural world – especially birds. When she moves to Africa with her husband and feels her sense of identity and purpose slipping away, it’s the birds in the surrounding grasslands that she turns to for comfort. Her efforts to hand-raise two wild fledglings – a swift and a mannikin finch – lie at the core of this beguiling story, but it’s her bond with the birds and what they come to symbolise that adds real emotional depth. Exploring the author’s efforts to adjust socially and ... View Full Review
Outpourings of grief don’t get much bigger or more impactful than the queue of thousands upon thousands who gathered to pay their final respects to Queen Elizabeth II as she lay in state at Westminster Hall in September 2022. The monarch’s death clearly struck a chord with people from diverse walks of life – and it is this moment of shared grief, and these people’s stories, that Sweta Rana captures so powerfully in her poignant debut novel.
Estranged mother and daughter, Rani and Tania, are reunited by the passing of the queen and the joining ... View Full Review
Jess’ life is thrown upside down when her marriage comes to an unexpected end. Seeking comfort, and a place to heal, she and daughter Lola head for the Cornish coast and her grandpa’s slightly ramshackle home, Renweneth Farm. Like Jess herself, the farmhouse is in need of a little love and the kind support of old friends and new acquaintances, but over the course of a bumpy summer, something quite wonderful starts to take shape. The first in Linn B Halton’s Escape to Cornwall series is just the kind of novel we need more of ... View Full Review
Psychological thrillers don’t get more glamourous than this. The lavish parties, expensive frocks and hedonistic escapades are like something lifted from the pages of a celebrity magazine – and a very dark one at that!
When Lucy Ross returns to the coastal town she spent a summer in over 20 years ago, it’s eerily coincidental that a body washes up on a nearby beach owned by her wealthy neighbours, the Whitlam’s. The gruesome discovery brings back troubling memories of a wild night Lucy spent at the Whitlam mansion, and the complex relationships she formed with ... View Full Review
It’s 2018 and poor Edie is haunted by the disappearance of her best friend, Lucy. She vanished over sixty years ago and Edie knows that deep down she holds a secret that could help solve her puzzling disappearance. As an increasingly forgetful 84-year-old, there are many memories Edie struggles to keep hold of – but the mystery surrounding Lucy isn’t one she’s prepared to give up on easily. Utterly compelling, darkly unnerving and a joyful masterclass in storytelling, Emily Critchley’s debut adult novel hits the mark on so many levels. The wonderfully fragmented ... View Full Review
Who doesn’t dream of owning their own coffee shop in a gorgeous Yorkshire village? Especially one that attracts handsome doctors and a warm community of cake-lovers! When Emily finds herself jobless, single and sofa-surfing at best friend Kate’s, taking on a failing coffee shop doesn’t seem the best step forward. But determined not to let go of the dream she once shared with her mum, she takes a giant leap of faith and follows her heart, ending up on a most eventful journey. There are rocky roads to navigate, and difficult memories for Emily ... View Full Review
Finding one beautiful character you’re drawn to in a novel is always a delight; discovering three you know you’re going to be devastated to leave behind is the ultimate treat! Jules, Nina and Alice meet by chance at a party in Paris in their late teens. Twenty years later, they’re all facing some major life events – but at least they’ve got each other to help them through. Or have they? After an eventful weekend back in the city that brought them together, the three best friends leave on terrible terms, unspoken ... View Full Review
Tensions are running high in the Tudor household. Cardinal Wolsey keeps a watchful eye on political, religious and romantic agendas as he prepares for the opening of Parliament and there are questions to be asked of everyone when a visiting critic is found brutally murdered at Richmond Palace. Royal trumpeter and super sleuth, Anthony Blanke, is drafted in to investigate the grisly crime – a killing that triggers a chain of others in this highly charged thriller.
Skilfully drawn and powerfully evocative, the second novel in the Anthony Blanke series leaves little to the imagination. Intricate murder scenes are played ... View Full Review
Love, loss and sibling rivalries run deep in Faith Hogan’s heartfelt new novel that sees three estranged sisters begrudgingly reunited to fulfil their father’s final wish. Growing up in the idyllic village of Ballycove, Georgie, Iris and Nola are inseparable until a tragic turn of events leaves the sisters reeling – and their special bond broken. When they’re forced to spend six months back in their childhood home years later, old wounds are reopened and the truth about the intervening years brings about startling discoveries … but also the chance for reconciliation. Hogan writes ... View Full Review
A family dealing with the tragic death of a beloved daughter and sister doesn’t sound like the premise for a cheering novel. But anyone familiar with Lucy Diamond’s writing will know she has the magic touch when it comes to family drama, injecting the perfect ratio of sadness and laughter, heartache and hope. When 35-year-old Leni McKenzie is involved in a fatal accident, her siblings and parents search for their own ways to come to terms with her death. Each tries to move forward, but troubling secrets and uncertainty over Leni’s movements in her ... View Full Review
Kate Galley’s debut plays out like a perfect Christmas movie – an entertaining drama full of humour, love, enough sorrow to bring Scrooge to tears and a big, heart-warming finale. Recently widowed, 76-year-old Evelyn Pringle embarks on a Christmas ‘turkey and tinsel’ coach tour to the Isle of Wight. She has a life-changing letter to deliver to a stranger and she’s not prepared to let her anxieties, or well-meaning sister, stand in her way. What starts out as a simple, solo mission quickly develops into a life-affirming adventure with two new friends – and ... View Full Review
