About Last Chapter

Last Chapter is a site about literary fiction, read from the last page backwards. We write about how novels end and why some endings stay with you for years, about the questions that get a book group talking, about first novels and the prizes that notice them, and about the slow, practical work of drafting, revising and finishing a book of your own.

Who writes it

Five people write here, each with their own corner of the shelf. Beatrix Hallam writes about endings. Desmond Achterberg covers drafting and revision. Ivo Marchbanks follows first novels, small presses and prizes. Clementine Oduya writes reading guides and book group questions. Yusuf Brannigan writes about workshops, degrees, query letters and the first steps toward publication. We are readers and writers, nothing grander, and we say so when an opinion is only an opinion.

How we write about books

We name real books, say when they were first published and tell you plainly when a piece is about to give away an ending. Facts about authors, presses and prizes are checked against public sources such as publisher pages and the prizes' own sites, and we leave out what we cannot check. Quotations are short and attributed. When we write about getting published, we describe common practice and say where it varies; nobody here can promise anyone an agent or a book deal, and we never recommend paying to be published.

The name and the address

This address once belonged to the website of The End, the first novel by Salvatore Scibona, published in 2008. Last Chapter is a reader's site that came later. We kept three of the old addresses because people still link to them, and wrote new pages for them: a reader's guide to The End, a profile of the novelist and his books and a page of reviews, interviews and further reading. The name Last Chapter is ours; the title of the novel, and the novel itself, belong to its author.

Links that earn a commission

Some pages carry a short, labelled note pointing to a bookstore or a writing course. If you buy through one of those links, Last Chapter may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Notes appear only where they fit the page, they are always marked, and they never decide what we recommend. The back matter page gathers the books and courses we mention most. Our privacy page explains the cookies a store or course site may set when you follow such a link.

Writing to us

Corrections, disagreements and suggestions for books we should write about are welcome. Use the contact page. We read everything, fix mistakes first, and sometimes turn a good question into a chapter.