Books
Spelling it out: the volunteers who made the dictionary
From an employee of a tram company in Birkenhead to the deeply eccentric Alexander Ellis, a celebration of the army of unpaid contributors to the first edition of the OED
An obituarist’s search for the soul
Snatches of memoir, poetry and observation from a writer whose main preoccupation is recording the lives of others
How the Scottish care system failed me in every conceivable way
Jenni Fagan dug up all the files and archives on herself as a baby in care to write this stunning and poignant memoir
The extraordinary – and haunting – life of Lafcadio Hearn
The author’s Japanese ghost stories brought him fame and fortune – but his own life was even stranger than fiction
‘My attachment to Giacometti grew into the bedrock of my existence’
Michael Peppiatt has had a lifelong obsession with Alberto Giacometti – and it shows in this perfect biography, says Lynn Barber
A labour of love
A 2023 book about a 1987 film set in 1969, in which multiple characters mourn the end of an era, told through interviews, memorabilia and testimonials from besotted fans
Unfinished business in Berlin: The Secret Hours, by Mick Herron, reviewed
How it all began: Di Taverner, Service legend David Cartwright and the rest of the Slow Horses make themselves known to the reader in an origin story disguised as a follow-up
Feeding frenzy: memories of a gourmand in Paris
In 1927, A.J. Liebling sailed from America to study medieval literature at the Sorbonne. Instead, he taught himself how to eat French food
The woman who set our country in a roar
Such was the emotion Anne Boleyn inspired in Henry VIII. But before long that scalding love had turned to a brutalising hatred of his second wife, culminating in her bloody beheading
Fish out of water
As a one-nation Tory, Rory Stewart was not a good fit in the party’s new incarnation. We discover how his desire to make the world a better place was always going to work against him
Sinister science
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
A born rebel
Four days after she last saw her, Natasha Walter’s mother Ruth took her own life. The loss throws Natasha into a desperate search for meaning by examining Ruth’s peace-activist past and beyond
The forgotten world of female espionage
Many thousands of women acted as messengers, radio operators and double agents behind enemy lines in both world wars. Here, these resilient and resolute pioneers are retrieved from the mists of history
The extraordinary life of 17th-century polymath Margaret Cavendish
Lucy Hughes-Hallett admires the brave and wayward Duchess of Newcastle, whose idiosyncratic writings astonished 17th-century English society
A tribute to Alf Ramsey, football’s forgotten hero
England’s 1966 World Cup triumph owed much to the team’s dedicated manager, loved by his players but monstrously treated by those in charge of the FA
The changing face of Ireland
A dead poet’s dangerous aura continues to haunt his daughter and 23-year old granddaughter in this story of an unhappy family set in rapidly changing Ireland
How much does Britain still ‘love’ the NHS?
Three books examining the health service in its 75th year find it at its nadir today – with 500 people dying weekly due to delays in urgent and emergency care
Public lies and secret truths
Smith’s sweeping historical novel spans slavery in Jamaica in the 1770s and the marathon trials of the Tichborne Claimant in London a century later
Rooms with little left to view: the queer spaces of E.M. Forster and others
Diarmuid Hester goes in search of the private places of eight remarkable figures from the 20th century, to find only Derek Jarman’s cottage preserved intact as a shrine
The many lives of George Weidenfeld, legendary publisher and ladies’ man
Born in a poor quarter of Vienna, the refugee took London by storm, married four times, survived financial ruin and died eulogised the world over
The phoney mystics who fooled the West
Many suspect mystics have exploited naive westerners in search of spiritual enlightenment over the past century, Philip Hensher discovers
The conman who duped thousands with a patently absurd story
Promising his investors dazzling riches with his tale of hidden Ghanaian gold, the charismatic John Ackah Blay-Miezah pulled off one of the most brazen scams of the past century
The perils of being pope
The power of the medieval papacy resembled that of the Holy Roman Emperor – and like the first Roman emperors, popes attracted envy, scandal and violent retribution
Another tragic case involving medical incompetence and cover-up
John Niven had to fight hard to discover why his suicidal brother was left alone and unmonitored in an Ayrshire hospital, with fatal consequences
A doomed democracy
Despite its democratic ideals and artistic creativity, 1920s Germany lacked both the flexibility and social cohesion necessary for functional politics, says Frank McDonough
