Books
An avian allegory: Dinosaurs, by Lydia Millet, reviewed
Adapt or die. That brutal Darwinian dictum is too blunt to serve as the motto of Dinosaurs, Lydia Millet’s slim,…
A history of pioneering women doctors descends into Mills & Boon trivia
The first three women doctors on the medical register in the UK had not only to study harder than their…
Reworking Dickens: Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver, reviewed
Putting new wine into old wineskins is an increasingly popular fictional mode. Retellings of 19th-century novels abound. Jane Austen inevitably…
The glamour and romance of London’s vanished department stores
There are two journeys I’ll need to make after reading Tessa Boase’s heartbreakingly poignant book about London’s lost department stores.…
A complex, driven, unhappy man: the truth about John le Carré
Adam Sisman on the private life of John le Carré, revealed in letters and a kiss-and-tell
Fool’s gold
With Australia heading toward a referendum next year on a constitutionally enshrined indigenous ‘voice’ to parliament, the need for a…
The lonely passions of Emily Hale and Mary Trevelyan
Tom Williams describes how two women’s hopes of marrying T.S. Eliot came to nothing
Jan Morris’s ‘national treasure’ status is misleading
Almost two years after the death of Jan Morris, the jaunty travel writer and pioneer of modern gender transition, her…
Isolating with the ex: Lucy by the Sea, by Elizabeth Strout, reviewed
Elizabeth Strout’s fourth book about Lucy Barton comes on the heels of Oh William!, shortlisted for this year’s Booker Prize.…
The truth about ‘the most haunted house in England’
Place and story are little remembered now. The rectory in Essex was severely damaged by fire in 1939. But any…
Forgotten books worth rediscovering
Most readers have favourite books or authors they feel have been either forgotten or unjustly neglected. R.B. Russell, an assiduous…
The deathly malaise that’s crippling Russia
Now is a difficult time to empathise with Russians – which is why we need Maxim Osipov. We need him…
The dark side of the Himalayas
How best to write a book about the Himalayas when Mount Everest has been reduced to just another tick-off on…
The Osnabrück witch trials echo down the centuries
Absent mothers resonate in the latest offerings from two heavyweights of French literature. Getting Lost is the diary kept by…
The mad, bad and dangerous theories of Thomas Henry Huxley
Racism lies at the heart of the Victorian rewrite of the creation myth. What happened in prehistory, according to Thomas…
If buttons, balloons or premature burial terrify you, rest assured you’re not alone
Every summer, during our holiday in Orkney, there is a moment of panic. We’re standing on a dizzying cliff –…
The unpleasant truth about Joseph Roth
The Radetzky March must be one of the dozen greatest European novels – but its author was frighteningly unpleasant, says Philip Hensher
The agony and frustration of reporting from the Middle East
For 25 years, Abed Takkoush assisted foreign reporters like Jeremy Bowen when they arrived to cover the chaos and conflicts…
Richard E. Grant’s tribute to his wife leaves us shattered for his loss
Richard E. Grant pulls off a feat here. The title is twee but the content isn’t. With unselfpitying dash the…
The roots of 20th-century German aggression
It is the contention of Peter Wilson, professor of the history of war at Oxford University and the author of…
Explorer, author, soldier, lover: The Romantic, by William Boyd, reviewed
William Boyd taps into the classical novel tradition with this sweeping tale of one man’s century-spanning life, even to the…
A complicated bond: The Best of Friends, by Kamila Shamsie, reviewed
When I think of Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire, I picture a pot boiling on a hob, the water level rising…
Was Nato expansion worth the risk?
This is an important and topical book. Mary Sarotte traces the difficult course of Russia’s relations with Europe and the…
Vaughan Williams’s genius is now beyond dispute
Ralph Vaughan Williams’s towering position in our national life is now beyond dispute – and can only grow, says Simon Heffer
An empire crumbles: Nights of Plague, by Orhan Pamuk, reviewed
Welcome to Mingheria, ‘pearl of the Levant’. On a spring day, as the 20th century dawns, you disembark at this…
