Image: © Courtesy of Manchester City Galleries What’s it like to be Irene Hedges? Or Linda Jones or Dawn Cooper, or any of the others who are not like you; who are normal? Do they know how lucky they are? You have no idea which piece is missing from your clockwork, what has made you […]
2 poems
Image: © Courtesy of Manchester City Galleries I Think That’s What Love Is I find you in the small canteen. The noise around an elegant TV mast. Oh god, the sadness. A series of paving slabs implanted into a field like a proto-spine or a history of unstructured gangrene. I eat my wet sandwich […]
2 poems
Image: © Courtesy of Manchester City Galleries Control The Pontotoc manwho confessedto killing his best friendduring a fishing tripbecause he believed this personwas summoning BigFoot to harm him,has been convicted. The man recounted seeinga twelve foot BigFoot crouchedand hearing his friend howlthrough a drainage pipe. He claimed his best friend also insistedon catching a […]
Shaped
Image: © Courtesy of Manchester City Galleries i. The Bra You were nine the first time your shape displeased you. The bra had been a present on Christmas. Absurd. You’d wanted a doll. The bra was white and smelled like a grandmother’s house. You were less than enthused when your mum showed you how to […]
2 poems
Image: © Courtesy of Manchester City Galleries Your Cathedral I remember the first time you brought me here:your roofless cathedral you called it, showed me the way samphire gets washed in gold whenthe sun falls over the mudflats of Morecambe Bay, Lakeland mountains bruised violet by the sky they touch,charcoal smudges across the water, huddled […]
Spilt Milk
Image: © Courtesy of Manchester City Galleries Charlie had noticed her at once on walking into the hotel’s breakfast room that morning. She stood by the generous bow window that faced out to sea, in an attitude of restful contemplation that he found charming. And somehow the next moment there he was, standing by her […]
3 poems
Image: © Courtesy of Manchester City Galleries North Star(a e h i l n o r s t anagram) Terns strain as east sleet threatens,it thrashes these northern shoreson seasonal rotation. Stern, here.As the sea lathers, the inlet silts,its islet less isle, its saline isolationstolen as the straits start to thin. See those tell-tales? […]
Our Life Together
Image: © Courtesy of Manchester City Galleries I don’t know when it started. I, for one, have never been that interested but it’s happened that gradually, over the years, as our life together has become ever more uneventful so our desire to discuss politics has increased. You could argue that it’s not surprising given the […]
3 poems
Image: © Courtesy of Manchester City Galleries Happy Fat Brown Puppy After Utagawa Hiroshige’s woodblock print:Ushimachi in the Takanawa District About this view by Utagawa H – who else would set an oxcart wheeleye-level, and so in your facethe uncrossable distance of artseems semi-zero?Or persuade a fading rainbow’s curveto follow the rim of the wheelon […]
Great Potential (trans. Beth Fowler)
Image: © Courtesy of Manchester City Galleries Sometimes, Amelia hides behind the railings and stands there watching her classmates swarm out and launch themselves at the mothers waiting for them at home time with sandwiches wrapped in tinfoil, donuts for the lucky ones, and maybe even a Bollycao for the chosen few. Amelia likes to […]
My Dog Ate the Sun
Image: © Courtesy of Manchester City Galleries And tumbled through the door when Ilet him in. His rust coat moved like awindy sea. I turned on the porch light: itdidn’t make any difference. “You’re dead,”I said to him; he cocked his head to theleash on a chair. Of course, he wouldwant to go walking now, […]
Rue Garenne (trans. Ruth Ward)
Image: © Courtesy of Manchester City Galleries There’s this woman as eccentric as Christ walking on water. She writes poems on her painted toes, which will never touch the ground because she slips them into platforms high as half her head, or higher. Grey pigeon feathers decorate her hair along with leaves of fresh mint and laurel. And each […]
Signs
Image: © Courtesy of Manchester City Galleries It began the way of all rumours. Coming from nowhere, permeating the air like smoke then gaining form and substance from repetition until it became truth, or at least Fact. Someone had said it in the marketplace, or a prophet had come down from the hills. Then there […]
3 poems
Image: © Courtesy of Manchester City Galleries Telephonophobia I sprint three stairsat a time, dying to hearwho’s on the line.I lift the receiver to my trainedear, my lips purse tiny airholes.He said he was a doctorabout to visit our schoolneeded to conduct the firstexamination. Are you alone?I’m alone, I say, thinking of the lollipops […]
Issue 27: Editorial
Image: © Courtesy of Manchester City Galleries It’s been a year since the current editorial team took responsibility for The Manchester Review, and we are delighted to present Issue 27. This issue blends some familiar names with plenty of new faces, and as is tradition for the Review is comprised of different styles across fiction […]
Sheena Kalayil, The Others, reviewed by Joseph Hunter
A fascinating love story plays out during the end-days of the DDR. Sheena Kalayil | The Others | Fly on the Wall Press: £12.99Reviewed by Joseph Hunter The inciting incident in The Others, Sheena Kalayil’s stirring and sad fourth novel, involves the discovery of a body. A young German man has drowned in an attempt to […]
Gastón Fernández, Apparent Breviary, reviewed by Astrid Meyer
A quietly striking collection where readers are left to meditate upon the enigmatic traces of Fernández’s words, and where they might point. Gastón Fernández | Apparent Breviary (trans. KM Cascia) | World Poetry Books £19.99 Reviewed by Astrid Meyer Apparent Breviary, written between 1980-1981 by the Peruvian poet Gastón Fernández, translated from the Spanish into […]
Witold Wirpsza, Apotheosis of Music, reviewed by Dylan Stewart
Wipsza’s dream-like poems are absurd, but if you pay attention to the material from which these dreams are made, you’ll find them lingering with you in unexpected ways. Witold Wirpsza | Apotheosis of Music | translated by Frank L. Vigoda | World Poetry Books: £18.99Reviewed by Dylan Stewart Witold Wirpsza was a Polish poet who […]
Ethel Cain, Nettles, reviewed by Edith Powell
Ethel Cain’s preview single delivers everything steadfast listeners were hoping for; creating a spellbinding, bittersweet world of catharsis, melancholy, and reluctant hope. A masterful addition to a tragic story. ‘Nettles’ | Ethel Cain | Willoughby Tucker, I Will Always Love YouReviewed by Edith Powell ‘Nettles’ is Ethel Cain’s debut single for her upcoming sophomore album, […]
Stuart Maconie, With A Little Help From Their Friends, reviewed by Chris Connor
Maconie dives into the lives that shaped the Fab Four, bringing fresh perspectives to the infamous legends Stuart Maconie | With A Little Help From Their Friends: The Beatles Changed the World. But Who Changed Theirs? | HarperNorth: £20.99Reviewed by Chris Connor The Beatles story is, of course, well entrenched into public consciousness, and interest […]
Corinne Fowler, Our Island Stories, reviewed by Paul Anthony Knowles
Fowler unearths the hidden legacies of slavery, capitalism and exploitation that make up contemporary British relationships with the countryside Corinne Fowler | Our Island Stories: Ten Walks through Rural Britain and its Hidden History of Empire | Penguin Random House: £10.99Reviewed by Paul Anthony Knowles Our Island Stories, Corrine Fowler’s follow-up to Green Unpleasant Land […]
Hamlet Hail to the Thief, Factory International, Reviewed by Edith Powell
Royal Shakespeare Company’s Hamlet Hail to the Thief expertly melds physical theatre, dystopian visuals, and a Radiohead album to create a masterclass in Shakespeare adaptation. Hamlet Hail to the Thief | Factory International | 14th May 2025Reviewed by Edith Powell Shakespeare’s Hamlet tells the story of a prince agonised by an apparition of his dead […]
Albertine Sarrazin, The Crib and Other Stories, trans. Sonya Moor, reviewed by Livi Michael
Fine new translation of a wonderful writer who lived an extraordinary life Albertine Sarrazin | The Crib and Other Stories, trans. Sonya Moor | Confingo: £10.00 (available to pre-order)Reviewed by Livi Michael It would be easy to focus solely on the extraordinary details of Albertine Sarrazin’s life. Born in Algiers in 1937, she was abandoned […]
Gaia Holmes, He Used to Do Dangerous Things, reviewed by Anna O’Boyle
A poet’s inventive and unusual debut short fiction collection Gaia Holmes | He Used to Do Dangerous Things | Comma Press: £10.99Reviewed by Anna O’Boyle Gaia Holmes’ He Used to Do Dangerous Things secures Holmes’ move from poetry to short fiction as a success. The collection presents an original, intriguing, and often surprising assemblage of […]
The Flying Dutchman, The Lowry, Salford, reviewed by Paul Knowles and Edith Powell
Opera North’s powerhouse production of The Flying Dutchman brings Wagner’s depiction of Faustian love onto the stage in triumphant fashion The Flying Dutchman | The Lowry, Salford | 15th of March 2025Reviewed by Paul Knowles and Edith Powell Opera North is a leading UK arts organisation based in Leeds. Its mission is to make opera […]
Monica Ali @ LBF25, reviewed by Joseph Hunter
Monica Ali @ LBF25 | 13th March 2025Reviewed by Joseph Hunter At all of the talks and events at this year’s London Book Fair there was an abiding sense that the wider world is in a state of disequilibrium, to put it mildly. Chris Power (A Lonely Man, 2021) put words to what many of […]
Claudia Piñeiro @ LBF25, reviewed by Joseph Hunter
Claudia Piñeiro @ LBF25 | 12th March 2025Reviewed by Joseph Hunter In the subterranean Main Stage of the London Book Fair, Claudia Piñeiro was unsure about her own ability to conduct the conversation in English rather than her native Spanish. The Argentinian author, best known for her crime novels, has had many of her books […]
Adam Farrer, Broken Biscuits: And Other Male Failures, reviewed by Joseph Hunter
A touching, searching, and warm memoir of troubles with masculinity Adam Farrer | Broken Biscuits: And Other Male Failures | Harper North: £16.99Reviewed by Joseph Hunter Anyone reading this, no matter their gender, will know that complaining about how hard it is to be a man is not a highly-commended activity. In fact, most men […]
Paul Stubbs, Beast: The Lost Chronicles, reviewed by Michael Lee Rattigan
A potent and challenging poetic reimagining of Yeats‘ ‘rough beast‘ Paul Stubbs | Beast: The Lost Chronicles | Broken Sleep Books: £9.99Reviewed by Michael Lee Rattigan ‘En route to Bethlehem’ contains the first of many cleavings in Paul Stubbs’ propulsive seventh collection, in many ways both a culmination and a confluence of this poet’s singular […]
Submissions open for Issue 27
Dear all, Submissions for Issue 27 of The Manchester Review are now open. The submission window will be open from 25th February to 25th March 2025. Please take a look at the submission guidelines on our website before you submit. We’re looking forward to reading your finest poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction. Best wishes, […]
Zdravka Evtimova, The Wolves of Staro Selo, reviewed by Dylan Stewart
Contemporary Bulgarian fairytale told in a polyphonic, experimental style Zdravka Evtimova | The Wolves of Staro Selo | Héloïse Press: £12.95Reviewed by Dylan Stewart The Wolves of Staro Selo is a contemporary Bulgarian fairytale told by Zdravka Evtimova, who won, among other accolades, Bulgaria’s Favourite Writer in 2021, and translated by Yana Ellis, who won […]
Shadow and Void: Buddha¹⁰, esea contemporary, reviewed by Joseph Hunter
Esoteric and serene by turns, this international collaboration re-interprets buddha statues Shadow and Void: Buddha¹⁰ | esea contemporary | Jan 18th – April 20thReviewed by Joseph Hunter I’ve seen a few buddhas in my time. In Japan a long time ago I saw the Great Buddha in Tōdai-ji, Nara, wide and matte-black, stern, looming high overhead […]
A Complete Unknown (dir. James Mangold), reviewed by Joseph Hunter
Young Dylan rebels against the folk scene in this evocative, beautiful biopic A Complete Unknown | dir. James Mangold | Reviewed by Joseph Hunter Handsome, chiselled, lyrically-named Timotheé Chalamet looks like Bob Dylan in this film. I mean he really, really looks like Bob Dylan. The styling helps: the clothes, the sunglasses, the wigs. But […]
Misha Honcharenko, Trap Unfolds Me Greedily, reviewed by Clare Patterson
A rich, challenging, poetic novel of pain, desire, violence, and grief Misha Honcharenko | Trap Unfolds Me Greedily | Sissy Anarchy: £15Reviewed by Clare Patterson Following the publication of his debut poetry collection Skin of Nocturnal Apple with Pilot Press in 2023 comes Misha Honcharenko’s debut novel. Enfolding war, childhood, fear of death and the […]
Dunstan Power, The Empty Rope, Reviewed by Paul Anthony Knowles
Two men’s lives shattered by a climbing accident twenty-five years ago in Patagonia — that neither man can forget — which forms the basis of this gripping debut thriller. Dunstan Power | The Empty Rope | Black Pear Press: £10.00Reviewed by Paul Anthony Knowles Dunstan Power’s debut novel, The Empty Rope, is a gripping thriller […]