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Lee Tisdale, in the latest issue of New Welsh Review, gives a thoughtful review of Bels's Cold War classic, the infamous, previously banned Insomnia.

'Alberts Bels’ accessible and compelling novella Insomnia depicts Soviet-era Latvia through the eyes of Mr Eduards Dārziņš.'

You can read the full review via the link here.

And you can buy the book here.

'The Crossing is an engrossing read filled with interesting people' writes Sarah Tanburn in her glowing review of Dai Smith's latest novel. Filled with 'muscular prose', it asks fundamental questions about both the past and the future of a Cymru built on coal and the strong backs of miners.

'The Crossing demands we ask ourselves those urgent questions about the future even as we wonder who sired whom and who will come off worst in the next violent encounter. The reader needs to put in the time to follow these threads but the resulting tapestry rewards in its rich detail and new insights.'

'Helen Pendry’s astonishingly assured first novel, The Levels, ends with a plan to retrieve not so much national identity – though that plays a significant part in her narrative - as political parity with those whose shady military affairs ride roughshod over local concerns.'

In a resoundingly positive review, The Yorkshire Times offers an indepth and sensitive reflection on Helen Pendry's many-layered and grittily authentic debut literary thriller The Levels.

You can read the full review here.