cruelty
Seeking forgiveness for gluttony, sloth and other deadly sins
The neurologist Guy Leschziner explores the medical conditions that might underlie extremes of human behaviour in a fascinating study that combines biology and psychology
Mounting suspicion: The Fate of Mary Rose, by Caroline Blackwood, reviewed
Terror and distrust build in the Anderson family after a six-year-old girl is found murdered in a quiet Kent village
A broken nation: Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth, by Wole Soyinka, reviewed
One of the best episodes in Wole Soyinka’s third novel (his first since 1973) takes place not in Nigeria but…
A macabre meditation on psoriasis
Obsessed with purity and pain, the boundaries of blame and innocence, Skin is a fascinating meditation on psoriasis, the long-lasting…
Good luck enjoying eating salmon ever again
‘I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by cat videos,’ begins Henry Mance’s How to Love Animals, winningly.…
My mother’s secret life was a Dickensian horror story
What happens to a child raised without love? This is the agonising question that the American lawyer Justine Cowan braces…
Shock and awe — what should we make of our Viking ancestors?
In June 793, a raiding force arrived by boat at the island monastery of Lindisfarne, on the Northumbrian coast. The…
How kind is humankind?
Are humans by nature really more puppy than wolf? Oren Harman tests the science
Gothic extremes of human cruelty: Cari Mora, by Thomas Harris, reviewed
It has been 13 years since Thomas Harris published a novel, and the last time he published one without Hannibal…
If you keep a pet raven, look out for your jewellery and car keys
With bird books the more personal the better. Joe Shute was once a crime correspondent and is today a Telegraph…
Putting the boot into Italy
A young woman, naked and covered in blood, totters numbly down a night road. A driver spots her in his…
The end of brotherly love
You can never completely leave a religious cult, as this strange and touching memoir demonstrates. Patterns of thinking, turns of…
Black prince or white knight?
We cannot know for sure how Edward the Black Prince earned his sobriquet. For some it was the volatile mixture…
The ruthless Romanovs’ horrible history
It’s hard to tell at times who came off worst in Romanov Russia — the tsar or his subjects, says Adam Zamoyski
The question Christianity fails to answer: ‘Who is my neighbour?’
‘Fine old Christmas,’ wrote George Eliot, ‘with the snowy hair and ruddy face, had done his duty that year in…
What makes mankind behave so atrociously? Ian Buruma and Joanna Bourke investigate
The first interaction between two men recorded in the Bible involves a murder. In the earliest classic of English literature,…
A misery memoir from Alan Cumming that's surprisingly thoughtful
Misery loves company. Anyone who doubts this old adage should pop into their local bookshop, because besides celebrity chefs and…
Breakfast with Lucian, by Geordie Greig - review
According to the medical historian Professor Sonu Shamdasani, Sigmund Freud was not the best, nor actually the most interesting, psychoanalyst…
Reflections on a Metaphysical Flaneur, by Raymond Tallis - review
There are books we read for pleasure and there are books we are paid to review. However enjoyable the books…
