Books
The Wolves of Memory
Loping through thick snow, fur matted with ice, they have lost the trace that led them long ago from a…
Porridge Season
Tuesday morning. The Chopin of golden syrup is going to perform his Breakfast Fantaisie for teaspoon and dessertspoon. Such a…
The Wolves of Memory
Loping through thick snow, fur matted with ice, they have lost the trace that led them long ago from a…
In Other Eyes
Someone to trust with parcels, because he’s ‘always in’; the character who locks the gate at night and lingers to…
In Other Eyes
Someone to trust with parcels, because he’s ‘always in’; the character who locks the gate at night and lingers to…
The real subject of John le Carré’s novels is his conman father Ronnie
John le Carré has been writing about a mirror world for over 50 years — and he’ll continue to do so for as long as his father haunts him, says Andrew Lycett
Sri Lanka: emerald paradise with a dark interior
For a genre that is frequently dismissed as dead, travel writing is proving a remarkably stubborn survivor. If anything, this…
Puccini’s villain as swashbuckling hero
You don’t need to know the opera Tosca to understand and enjoy this book about Puccini’s most notorious villain, Vitellio…
David Frost’s tablet in Poet’s Corner should have read: ‘To the Unknown Television Presenter’
On 13 March 2014 a congregation of 2,000 people, including many of the great and the good, gathered in Westminster…
The Peasants’ Revolt — such a thrilling moment in English history — has eluded novelists in the past
Considering that it was, as Melvyn Bragg rightly puts it, ‘the biggest popular uprising ever experienced in England’, the Peasants’…
Iris Murdoch’s letters just go on and on — as she herself was the first to admit
Iris Murdoch’s emotionally hectic novels have been enjoying a comeback lately, with an excellent Radio 4 dramatisation of The Sea,…
The King of Kings and I: Haile Selassie, by his great nephew
Great men rarely come smaller than Haile Selassie. In photographs, the golden crowns, pith helmets and grey felt homburgs he…
Bedtime reading at Hallowe’en
The thick of autumn is upon us, dear reader, and with it the shivers. Around Hallowe’en you may be tempted…
In Other Eyes
Someone to trust with parcels, because he’s ‘always in’; the character who locks the gate at night and lingers to…
The swastika was always in plain sight
Ordinary Germans under the Third Reich did have wills of their own, argues Dominic Green. Most actively embraced Nazi ideology, and were aware of the extermination of the Jews. As the war worsened for them, what did they think they were fighting for?
Charlotte Brontë: Cinderella or ugly sister?
Preparations for next year’s bicentennial celebrations of the birth of Charlotte Brontë haven’t exactly got off to a flying start.…
David Mitchell is in a genre of his own
David Mitchell’s new book, Slade House, is not quite a novel and not really a collection of short stories. It…
What does it really mean to have a tyrannical father?
What was it like, asks Jay Nordlinger, to have Mao as your father, or Pol Pot, or Papa Doc? The…
Would even Blair have put Felix Dennis in the Lords?
This is not only an authorised but a commissioned biography. Felix Dennis, the tiny, depraved, manipulative media mogul, was hardly…
John Lennon’s desert island luxury
Beatlebone is an account of a journey, a psychedelic odyssey, its protagonist — at times its narrator — John Lennon,…
From Spike Milligan — and Marge Simpson — with love, light, peace and great respect
This book is a serious bit of kit. Its hard covers measure 28.9 by 21 centimetres, and it weighs 1.62…
When English Catholics were considered as dangerous as jihadis
Martyrdom, these days, does not get a good press. Fifty years ago English Catholics could take a ghoulish pride in…
Behind the scenes at the Brighton bombing
Sadly, I can’t see it catching on, but one of the notable things about Jonathan Lee’s new novel is that…
Green is the colour of happiness
According to this wonderfully thought-provoking book, human attachment to plants was much more evident in the 19th century than it…
The kindness of strangers is a pleasing mystery
When I applied to medical school, an experienced doctor offered me some advice: ‘Don’t give them reason to think you’re…
