Books
All roads lead to Dublin
I do not think I am alone in confessing that I had read critical works on James Joyce before I…
A very tangled web
Vanessa Salomon is an internationally successful translator. Clever, beautiful, privileged – ‘born in a trilingual household: French, English and money’…
The great arbitrator
‘The law,’ according to W.S. Gilbert’s Lord Chancellor, ‘is the true embodiment of everything that’s excellent’ and, by common consent,…
Remember forget-me-nots?
‘There are a great many ways of holding on to our sanity amid the vices and follies of the world,’…
The lady vanishes
This is a depressing book. It’s a reminder of everything that is sick, broken and generally maledicted about the human…
A real game changer
The moment before the fall of women’s football can be precisely dated. On Boxing Day 1920, Dick, Kerr Ladies FC…
The horror unfolds
No one had prepared the Allied soldiers, as they began their invasion of the Reich early in 1945, for what…
No blame, no shame
If MI5 had a Cold War file on you – paper in those happy days – it didn’t mean they…
The power and the glory
Geography, climate, economics and nationalism are often seen as decisive forces in history. In this dynamic, original and convincing book…
The wild, wide fen
‘To talk about Crabbe is to talk about England,’ E.M. Forster declared in a radio broadcast in May 1941, but…
An interplay of voices
Margo Jefferson’s Constructing a Nervous System compresses memoir and cultural criticism into one slim, explosive volume, and in doing so…
An immorality tale
Has there been a better novel this century than Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation? There might not…
The last governor
After 13 years in parliament, rising star Chris Patten had the bad luck to be one of the few Tory…
Animal magic
With the technologies at our disposal, we can in fact now know what it’s like to be a bat, says Caspar Henderson
Into thin air
Mark Vanhoenacker dreams of my nightmares. Ever since he was a young boy, he fantasised about piloting airplanes. Ever since…
Modest expectations
A Little Hope, Ethan Joella’s debut novel, is about the lives of a dozen or so ordinary people who live…
The silent muse
Jane Morris, the Pre-Raphaelites’ favourite model, remains as enigmatic as ever, says Frances Wilson
A phoenix from the ashes
‘Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.’ Albert Einstein’s deft avoidance of the question put to…
Battered but unbowed
Don’t bring a bottle. Your chances of finding a party in full swing down those chilly corridors are close to…
Witchy women
I would guess that contemporary pagans have a love-hate relationship with Ronald Hutton. With books such as The Triumph of…
A long, dark shadow
When the 13 colonies of the United States declared independence in 1776, the first country to recognise the new nation…
The happy hoarder
If you were hoping for an autobiography this isn’t it. Jarvis Cocker calls it ‘an inventory’ and insists: ‘This is…
The plunder of the seas
David Profumo wonders whether newly created marine reserves can really reverse decades of devastation
Down to grass roots
Thomas Piketty, the French economist who shot to fame for writing a colossal work of economics that many people bought…
Super trouper
This book begins with Sheila Hancock wondering why she is being offered a damehood. I must say I slightly wondered…
