Books
One of the lucky ones: Hella Pick escapes Nazi Germany
Hella Pick is one of that vanishing generation of Jewish refugees who arrived in Britain on the eve of the…
The beauty of the ampersand and other keyboard symbols
This is such a great idea: a book with one short essay per punctuation mark or typographical symbol. Of course,…
Mommy issues: Milk Fed, by Melissa Broder, reviewed
This is a novel about ‘mommy issues’. Rachel is a Reform Jew, ‘more Chanel bag Jew than Torah Jew’, and…
Escape from reality: How to Survive Everything, by Ewan Morrison, reviewed
Ewan Morrison is an intellectually nimble writer with a penchant for provocation. His work has included the novels, Distance, Ménage…
Learning to listen: Sarah Sands goes in search of spirituality
It was the 13th-century wall of a ruined Cistercian nunnery at the far end of her garden in Norfolk that…
Malice and back-stabbing behind Vogue’s glossy exterior
‘What job do you want here?’ asked the editor of Vogue, interviewing a young hopeful. From behind her black sunglasses…
The British army in the 21st century under scrutiny
In his history of the Pacific War, Eagle Against the Sun, Ronald Spector described the state of the US army…
The sufferings of Okinawa continue today unheard
Okinawa is having a moment. Recently a Telegraph travel destination, to many in the west it’s still unfamiliar except as…
Slanging match: rein GOLD, by Elfriede Jelinek, reviewed
I’ve tried hard to think of someone I dislike enough to recommend this novel to, but have failed. Elfriede Jelinek…
Is it farewell to the handshake?
Ella Al-Shamahi is a Brummie, born to a Yemeni Arab family. From a strict Muslim upbringing she transitioned (evidently con…
Celebrating Jesus’s female followers: Names of the Women, by Jeet Thayil, reviewed
The gnostic Gospel of Mary has long been the subject of controversy, even as to which of the several Marys…
Sylvie Bermann personifies French fury over Brexit
Sylvie Bermann was the French ambassador in London between 2014 and 2017. Her stint here was a notable success. She…
Jordan Peterson is the Savonarola of our times
Philip Hensher feels he should be on Jordan Peterson’s side, but finds it a struggle
Cashing in on Covid: the traders who thrive on a crisis
When we think of those lurching moments last spring when it became clear that much of the world, not just…
Bright and beautiful: Double Blind, by Edward St Aubyn, reviewed
Edward St Aubyn’s ‘Patrick Melrose’ novels were loosely autobiographical renderings of the author’s harrowing, rarefied, drug-sozzled existence. Despite their subject…
Two for the road: We Are Not in the World, by Conor O’Callaghan, reviewed
A father and his estranged 20-year-old daughter set off across France, sharing the driver’s cabin of a long-haul truck. This…
One great Chinese puzzle remains its cuisine
A truth that ought to be universally acknowledged is that Chinese food, while much loved, is underappreciated. China certainly has…
Bird migration is no longer a mystery — but it will always seem a miracle
Bird migration was once one of those unassailable mysteries that had baffled humankind since Aristotle. A strange hypothesis, genuinely advanced…
The odd couple: John Keats and F. Scott Fitzgerald
On a shard of paper, some time in the bleak mid-1930s, F. Scott Fitzgerald incorporated a favourite line from one…
Women of the streets: Hot Stew, by Fiona Mozley, reviewed
For a novel set partly in a Soho brothel, Hot Stew is an oddly bloodless affair. Tawdry characters drift in…
Peru’s beauty has been a real curse
As the planet gets more and more ravaged, the mind can begin to glaze over at the cumulative general statistics…
Edward Said — a lonely prophet of doom
Even Edward Said would not have claimed to be ‘the 20th century’s most celebrated intellectual’. But neither was he ‘Professor of Terror’, says Justin Marozzi
Chips Channon’s diaries can read like a drunken round of Consequences
Chips Channon was conceited, snobbish, disloyal, voyeuristic and wrongheaded – all qualities most helpful to a great diarist, says Craig Brown
Walls go up after the Berlin Wall comes down
In her 2017 travelogue Border: A Journey to the Edge of Europe, the writer and poet Kapka Kassabova meets Emel,…
The robot as carer: Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro, reviewed
The world of Kazuo Ishiguro’s new novel — let’s call it Ishville — is instantly recognisable. Our narrator, Klara, is…
