More from Books

A naturally conservative country

29 April 2023 9:00 am

Their winning formula has been to present themselves as the party of patriotism and economic competence, while stealing the opposition’s clothes whenever it suited them

A passion for moths – and the thrill of the chase

29 April 2023 9:00 am

Katty Baird braves the cliffs and wind-blasted moors of East Lothian to identify as many species of these maligned insects as possible

The intricate stories timepieces tell

22 April 2023 9:00 am

The horologist Rebecca Struthers takes us on a journey through time-measurement, from a 44,000-year-old bone carving to the modern Rolex

The getting of wisdom

22 April 2023 9:00 am

Inherited knowledge saved the indigenous Andaman islanders from the 2004 tsunami. But how will fast-changing data affect our judgment?

The complex genius of Mel Brooks

22 April 2023 9:00 am

Jeremy Dauber highlights the tension within Brooks of warring Jewish archetypes, personified by Max and Leo in the masterpiece The Producers

Box of tricks

22 April 2023 9:00 am

A novel full of surprises weaves together stories of disparate characters – all mysteriously connected to the elderly novelist Dora Frenhofer

Lovable eccentrics

22 April 2023 9:00 am

On the anniversary of Hendrix’s death, ageing hippies gather in Lviv to perform a bizarre ritual by a grave marked with his name

Could the bombing of Sir Galahad have been prevented?

22 April 2023 9:00 am

Aided by documents in the National Archives, Crispin Black challenges the view that the Welsh Guards were to blame for the Bluff Cove disaster

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

Pillow talk in Berlin

22 April 2023 9:00 am

Heydrich had microphones installed throughout Madam Kitty’s salon in the hope of obtaining ‘useful’ information from visiting diplomats and political rivals

Tales of the unexpected

15 April 2023 9:00 am

Eight eclectic fables draw on magic realism, science fiction, fairy tales, the Gothic, religion, brutal realism and horror movies

Reading the rocks

15 April 2023 9:00 am

Louise Erdrich explores her Ojibwe heritage, learning to read ancient painted signs on rocks and making ritual offerings to the spirits

How Britain prepared for Armageddon from the 1950s onwards

15 April 2023 9:00 am

The official policy in the event of nuclear war veered from fatuous evacuation plans to a directive to stockpile food, stay home and hope for the best

The GDR was not the Stasiland of grey monotony we imagine

15 April 2023 9:00 am

Katja Hoyer evokes the tears and anger – but also the laughter and pride, as citizens raised their children, went on holidays and joked about their politicians

The lady vanishes: Collected Works, by Lydia Sandgren, reviewed

15 April 2023 9:00 am

When Cecilia disappears, her husband and children are left haunted by the mystery – until a character in a German novel strikes the daughter as strangely familiar

The life of an Exmoor stockman reads like bloody-knuckled rural noir

15 April 2023 9:00 am

Through her interviews with the exuberant countryman ‘Tommy’ Collard, Catrina Davies provides a vivid picture of nature in the raw

The tragically short life of Bruno Schulz – and his complicated legacy

15 April 2023 9:00 am

The Polish-Jewish writer and artist enjoyed all too brief acclaim before his murder in 1942. Benjamin Balint describes the ongoing battle for ownership of his final works

The savage power of 18th-century caricature

15 April 2023 9:00 am

The politics of late Georgian England provided Gillray, Cruickshank and Rowlandson with perfect fodder for robust, merciless satire

A modern Cinderella story: Romantic Comedy, by Curtis Sittenfeld, reviewed

15 April 2023 9:00 am

A rich, handsome rock star falls for a schlubby TV comedy writer in an enjoyable, traditional romcom, mystifyingly billed as ‘subversive’ and ‘searingly contemporary’

A wilderness of mirrors

8 April 2023 9:00 am

A young stage illusionist is recruited by the British secret service to extract a list of double agents concealed in a Russian magician’s stage prop

Dazzling wordplay: Man-Eating Typewriter, by Richard Milward, reviewed

8 April 2023 9:00 am

A deranged anarchist plans to commit the crime of a century – with Polari, coded messages and a faulty typewriter contributing to the mayhem

Great men don’t shape history – but tiny microbes do

8 April 2023 9:00 am

Jonathan Kennedy explores the (mainly) devastating effects of bacteria in the past – and now, as they proliferate and our resistance diminishes

Jolly good company

8 April 2023 9:00 am

There are vignettes of many Cambridge contemporaries – including the mysterious John Sackur, the inspiration for the invisible man in Donkeys’ Years

A reluctant unbeliever

8 April 2023 9:00 am

He dismisses the philosophy of religion as sixth-formish point-scoring. But are his own ruminations any more profound?

Farewell to the Belle Époque

8 April 2023 9:00 am

Edward VII’s reign is generally seen as a bright interlude between Victorian primness and the Great War – but there was considerable unrest on many fronts