Leyla Sanai

A war reporter bravely faces death – but not from sniper fire

2 March 2024 9:00 am

As a foreign correspondent for the New York Times, Rod Nordland learned to expect many dangers, but a brain tumour wasn’t one of them

Escape into fantasy: My Heavenly Favourite, by Lucas Rijneveld, reviewed

27 January 2024 9:00 am

The 14-year-old daughter of a Dutch farmer is pursued by a paedophile vet and tries hard to combat the abuse by imagining she’s a bird

The golden age of Dutch art never ceases to amaze

21 October 2023 9:00 am

Benjamin Moser reminds us of how freely painters borrowed each other’s subjects – and of how many of the greatest, including Rembrandt, died in poverty

Rising star

30 September 2023 9:00 am

The second volume of Knausgaard’s trilogy serves as a prequel to the first, tracing the origins of Norway’s ominous new celestial body

Sinister science

9 September 2023 9:00 am

Set in the near future, the novel examines what is necessary to make us human – while showcasing the base behaviour of those lucky enough to be born with the right genes

The danger of making too many friends

27 May 2023 9:00 am

Elizabeth Day recognises that real friends need nurturing, and spreading yourself too thinly doesn’t help anyone

Descent into hell

22 April 2023 9:00 am

When Michael Laudor’s schizophrenia spiralled out of control in 1998, it made headline news in America. Jonathan Rosen remembers earlier, happier days with his friend

Loved and lost

11 February 2023 9:00 am

The third act of Morrison’s family saga focuses on Gill, the once loving and generous sister he was so close to but was unable to save

A history of pioneering women doctors descends into Mills & Boon trivia

15 October 2022 9:00 am

The first three women doctors on the medical register in the UK had not only to study harder than their…

A dying doctor’s last words

27 August 2022 9:00 am

Facing up to the prospect of one’s own mortality is always jarring; but when you’ve spent your life trying, and…

Women behaving badly: Ghost Lover, by Lisa Taddeo, reviewed

11 June 2022 9:00 am

Lisa Taddeo’s Three Women established her as a narrator of female desire in all its complexity. Her study of three…

Zimbabwe’s politics satirised: Glory, by NoViolet Bulawayo, reviewed

2 April 2022 9:00 am

NoViolet Bulawayo’s first novel We Need New Names,shortlisted for the Booker in 2013, was a charming, tender gem, suffused with…

Portrait of a domestic tyrant: The Exhibitionist, by Charlotte Mendelson, reviewed

19 March 2022 9:00 am

If vivid, drily hilarious tales about messy families stuffed with passive aggression and seething resentment are your thing, you will…

Confused lives: It’s Getting Dark, by Peter Stamm, reviewed

22 January 2022 9:00 am

The Swiss writer Peter Stamm’s inscrutable, alienated outsiders make bizarre choices to escape stifling mundanity. Their discontent suggests malaise, something…

Mind games: the blurred line between fact and fiction

2 October 2021 9:00 am

Readers of Case Study unfamiliar with its author’s previous work might believe they have stumbled on a great psychotherapy scandal.…

Ice and snow and sea and sky: Lean Fall Stand, by Jon McGregor, reviewed

1 May 2021 9:00 am

Jon McGregor has an extraordinary ability to articulate the unspoken through ethereal prose that observes ordinary lives from above without…

The shameful targeting of black police officers

24 February 2021 12:07 am

I’m severely disabled, coffee-coloured, a migrant, a refugee and a woman. I was born to a Muslim family and I chose atheism…

Memory – and the stuff of dreams

30 January 2021 9:00 am

Can you remember when you heard about 9/11? Chances are you’ll be flooded instantly with memories — not only where…

Looking for love: Ghosts, by Dolly Alderton

24 October 2020 9:00 am

Of all the successful modern female writers documenting their search for love, none has been as endearing as Dolly Alderton.…

There’s no end to the wonders of the human body, says Bill Bryson

9 November 2019 9:00 am

Bill Bryson has come a long way from being the funniest, most irreverent travel writer around. He’s still as amiable,…

Prince Charles’ irresponsible support for homeopathy

27 June 2019 8:08 pm

You might have thought that many of the world’s scientists and doctors had come to an unequivocal decision on homeopathy:…

The snake-oil salesmen who prey on schizophrenics

22 June 2019 9:00 am

Schizophrenia is the psychiatric illness about which the most misconceptions abound. It’s not so much the ‘negative’ symptoms that cause…

Should adoptive parents be allowed to pick and choose their child?

4 May 2019 9:00 am

The sorrow of involuntary childlessness is profound. The award-winning novelist Patrick Flanery and his husband knew this pain. Their craving…

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Fiction for the #MeToo age: Victory, by James Lasdun, reviewed

16 February 2019 9:00 am

James Lasdun is my favourite ‘should be famous’ writer, his work extraordinarily taut and compelling. His eye-boggling psychological thrillers are…

A disturbing psychological experiment involving secrecy, small boys and sharp knives

28 April 2018 9:00 am

Gina Perry is the eminent psychologist who blew apart Stanley Milgram’s shocking revelations from his 1961 research. Milgram had caused…