Memoir
Bernardine Evaristo sets a rousing example of ‘never giving up’
Bernardine Evaristo’s Manifesto — part instructional guide for artists, part call to arms for equality, part literary memoir —shimmers with…
Andrew Mitchell relives the agony of Plebgate
Andrew Mitchell, as he readily admits, was born into the British Establishment. Almost from birth, his path was marked out:…
It’s the fisherman who’s truly hooked
Trying to catch fish with rod and line is a pursuit that, for many, goes far beyond the pleasant passing…
The revival of the blacksmith’s craft — a new generation goes at it hammer and tongs
At Intelligent Life, the Economistmagazine where I worked for some years, it was easy to feel intellectually challenged. Even the…
From ‘little Cockney’ to playing Queen Mary: the remarkable career of Eileen Atkins
Eileen Atkins belongs to a singular generation of British actresses, among them Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Sian Phillips and Vanessa…
The life of an ambassador’s wife
‘One day,’ she writes, ‘we had the Minister for Northern Ireland for the night. He arrived wearing a kilt, which…
Only Iain Sinclair could glimpse Hackney in the wilds of Peru
It seemed like a preposterous proposition. For decades, Iain Sinclair has been an assiduous psychogeographer of London, an eldritch cartographer…
A narrow escape in Britain’s most treacherous mountain range
Twenty-five years ago, my cousin Jock, a Scottish priest, rang in shock. Two priest friends, David and Norman, had been…
A glimpse of lost London – before the yuppie invasion
In a 1923 book called Echo de Paris, the writer Laurence Houseman attempted to conjure up in a very slim,…
The cosmopolitan spirit of the Middle East vanished with the Ottomans
One of the most depressing vignettes in Michael Vatikiotis’s agreeably meandering account of his cosmopolitan family’s experiences in the Near…
On the run from the Nazis: a Polish family’s protracted ordeal
Writers of memoirs are often praised for their honesty — but how do we know? I found I did believe…
A death foretold: the last days of Gabriel García Márquez
In March 2014 Gabriel García Márquez went down with a cold. The man who wrote beautifully about ageing was approaching…
A volte face over what caused the pandemic needs explaining
Sir Jeremy Farrar, the head of the Wellcome Trust, writes that ‘the last year has been an eye-opener for me.…
Even psychiatrists don’t know how the drugs they prescribe work
What is it like to go mad? Not so much developing depression or having a panic attack — which is…
The great awakening: Henry Shukman becomes a child of the universe
For eight years I rented a small house in Oxford overlooking the canal. The landlord, a poet and novelist younger…
The life cycle of the limpet teaches universal truths
Adam Nicolson is one of our finest writers of non-fiction. He has range — from place and history to literature…
A lesson in understanding serial killers and child molesters
True crime is having a moment: every day there’s a new documentary, book, podcast, or blockbuster film announced, detailing the…
Death by negligence: why did no one diagnose my sister’s TB?
In 2016, Arifa Akbar’s elder sister, Fauzia, died suddenly in the Royal Free Hospital, London at the age of 45.…
Remembering David Storey, giant of postwar English culture
Jasper Rees remembers David Storey, giant of postwar English culture and wry teller of tales, whose newly published memoir is perhaps his most remarkable work
Not just a trolley dolly: the demanding life of an air hostess
Come Fly the World is not the book I thought I was getting. The slightly (surely deliberately) pulpy cover —…
Haunted by the soft, sweet power of the violin
An extraordinary omission from Neil MacGregor’s A History of the World in 100 Objects is the lyre, the instrument closest…
Two of a kind: Monica Jones proved Philip Larkin’s equal for racism and misogyny
Monica Jones certainly proved Philip Larkin’s equal for racism and misogyny, says Andrew Motion
Marina Warner becomes her mother’s ‘shabti’
There comes a time after the death of parents when grief subsides, the sense of loss eases, and you, the…
The home life of Shirley Jackson, queen of horror
‘One of the nicest things about being a writer,’ Shirley Jackson once noted in a lecture titled ‘How I Write’,…
Nostalgia for seedy nightclubs reeking of sex and poppers
Gay bar, how I miss you. Barely any lesbian joints have survived the online dating scene, and Grindr has replaced…
