Longing for oblivion: The Warm Hands of Ghosts, by Katherine Arden, reviewed
Arden’s novel spares us no details of trench warfare on the Western Front and the severely traumatised men dreaming of escape into amnesia
How an animal psychic helped find a missing dog
The missing dog and the animal psychic
The habits of holy pilgrimage
“Will someone steal my coat?” “No, you’re on a holy pilgrimage,” my son’s Irish carer-companion Rosemarie reassured him. We were…
My pilgrimage to Lourdes
What I learnt on a pilgrimage
Caught in a web of lies: The Guest, by Emma Cline, reviewed
Moving among the rich of Long Island, an upmarket prostitute grows increasingly desperate as her many misdemeanours are exposed
An angry poltergeist: Long Shadows, by Abigail Cutter, reviewed
Long Shadows, a powerful novel set mainly in the American civil war, is very unlike Gone with the Wind. The…
Why aren’t mistresses a secret any more?
When did mistresses forget the art of secrecy?
Fight club: when book groups turn nasty
When book groups turn nasty
On the run from the Nazis: a Polish family’s protracted ordeal
Writers of memoirs are often praised for their honesty — but how do we know? I found I did believe…
A quick fix: how Boris and Carrie can bring Dilyn to heel
How Boris and Carrie can bring Dilyn to heel
A beastly cold country: Britain in 1962
Like this author, I was happily snowbound at a beloved grandparent’s house during the big freeze that began on Boxing…
Lockdown can be overwhelming for those with autism
Autism and lockdown are a challenging mix
Wisdom of the ages: we must keep listening to the elderly
My beloved grandmother died at 90, and my mother at 89, after having Alzheimer’s for 11 years. So I am…
Single women are happier – here’s why
As I get older I find the idea of wanting to be in a couple more and more bizarre. I’m…
Addicts love talking about their addiction – but haven’t we suffered enough?
I have always found the parable of the Prodigal Son sickeningly unfair, and I felt this again while driving a…
I hate fishing — but was hooked by the story of the Yukon’s salmon
‘Help!’ I thought, when I read the Author’s Note. ‘It’s about salmon, and I hate fishing.’ But by the first…
Wham bam, thank you Ma’am
I love Americans’ kindness, generosity and energy but am often thrown by their exaggerated politeness and euphemistic speech. They use…
What Katie didn’t do: how Hopkins was silenced in Lewes
I had an all-day ticket for the Lewes Speakers Festival at the All Saints Centre on Saturday. I was keen…
Dangerous liaisons
Lothario, Don Juan, philanderer, ‘naughty’, ‘plays away’ — all terms for men who have an overwhelming drive to seduce scores…
How to Measure a Cow — and escape the shadows of the past
Margaret Forster, who died on 8 February, excelled at writing about complex relationships between women. Even old friends, she demonstrated,…
Is the Slender-billed curlew already extinct?
This unusual book is beautifully written, produced and illustrated, but its subject — the small Slender-billed curlew — is strangely…
The trials of living with a High Court judge
This intensely written memoir by Adam Mars-Jones about his Welsh father, Sir William, opens with the death of Sheila, Adam’s…
Elisa Segrave’s diary: A prison visit to a friend
Off to prison to visit a writer friend, first jailed led some years ago for trying to find a hit…
Alexandra’s Fuller’s parents are the stars even when their daughter is divorcing, in this sequel to the bestselling Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight
‘Double ouzo, hold the Coke,’ Mum ordered at the Mkushi Country Club bar, during spanikopita night. ‘My daughter’s a lesbian.’…
