Books
It’s trust in English kindness that keeps the migrants coming
More than 12 million Brits engage in some form of voluntary work, many of whom have dropped everything to help those arriving in small boats
Studying Dickens at university was once considered demeaning. Now it’s too demanding
Accessible, ‘relevant’ short stories are increasingly replacing the classics, as the monuments of Victorian literature defeat today’s undergraduates
The grooming of teenaged Linn Ullmann
Ignoring her mother Liv Ullmann’s advice, 16-year-old Linn accepted the offer of a photo shoot in Paris in 1983 – and has been haunted by the experience ever since
It’s a wonder that the Parthenon remains standing at all
From a temple to Athena, it became a Byzantine, then Latin, church, a mosque, a powder magazine and finally a ruin. Lord Elgin’s vandalism was hardly anything new
News from a small island: Theft, by Abdulrazak Gurnah, reviewed
Decades of change follow the 1964 revolution in Zanzibar, with boutique hotels multiplying in Stone Town’s haunted streets. But is a whole way of life being threatened?
Who’s the muse? In a Deep Blue Hour, by Peter Stamm, reviewed
A documentary film-maker grows obsessed by a recurring character in a celebrated series of novels – much to their author’s mounting displeasure
What sea slugs can teach us about organ transplants
The ability of species of nudibranch to incorporate the cells of completely separate species could have profound implications for humanity, says Drew Harvell
When ordinary men did extraordinary things – D-Day revisited
The transporting of 150,000 troops across the Channel in total secrecy and the feats they did that day is a story we never tire of – and Max Hastings tells it exceedingly well
A cremation caper: Stealing Dad, by Sofka Zinovieff, reviewed
Part grief-memoir, part macabre escapade, Zinovieff’s latest book is inspired by her own father’s bizarre strictures regarding his funeral
Cooking up a storm of memories – Bee Wilson’s kitchenalia
A baking tin, a toast rack and a soup tureen conjure poignant reminders of the past - while Wilson’s wedding ring is transformed into the world’s smallest pastry cutter
Rafael Nadal: king of the orange brick court
No tennis player was so well suited to the centre court at Roland Garros, where the Spaniard won a record of 14 French Open titles
The complexities of the dawn chorus
The habits of common or garden birds and their intricate songs prove even more fascinating than the puffins and guillemots of Adam Nicolson’s previous book
The satisfaction of making wine the hard way
An investment banker leaves the rat race to restore a neglected vineyard in the Loire, where he decides to do as much as possible by hand, from pruning the vines to pressing the grapes
Alzheimer’s research is challenging enough without a data manipulation scandal
Two cases of scientific fraud and cover-up are brought to light by Charles Piller, with serious consequences for the Alzheimer’s field in the US
Whether adored or despised, Princess Diana is never forgotten
Edward White examines the effect of the former Princess of Wales on the millions worldwide who never even laid eyes on her
The mother of a mystery: Audition, by Katie Kitamura, reviewed
A married couple’s life is thrown into turmoil with the arrival of a handsome young man out of the blue claiming to be the woman’s son
The enduring lure of Atlantis
Damian Le Bas goes in search of the fabled city beneath the waves in an attempt to overcome the grief of losing his father
The Russian spies hiding in plain sight
A programme of deep-cover espionage, begun in the 1920s, is as important to Russia as ever with the expulsion of so many diplomats in the wake of the war with Ukraine
Orphans of war: Once the Deed is Done, by Rachel Seiffert, reviewed
Interlinked stories of displaced children in Germany in 1945 capture this devastating moment in history. But amid the pain and trauma there is hope and resilience, too
Anselm Kiefer’s monstrous regiment of women
Women are found everywhere in Kieferland – martyrs, queens and heroines of the revolution, haunting, teasing and unknowable
The love that conquered every barrier – including the Iron Curtain
Iain Pears tells the dramatic story of how two art historians – one English, one Russian – met by chance in Venice and found they couldn’t live without each other
‘Death is a very poor painter’: the 19th-century craze for plaster casts
Bourgeois homes in the early 19th century became ‘virtual museums of death’, with models of heroes jostling replicas of the hands and feet of lost loved ones
Bloodbath at West Chapple farm
Fifty years after its original publication, John Cornwell’s account of the Devon murder mystery involving three dysfunctional siblings remains as haunting as ever
My adventures in experimental music – by David Keenan
In pieces dating from 1998 to 2015, the ‘rock evangelist’ interviews the revolutionary musicians of the time and recalls the ‘beautiful shambles’ of the first gig he ever attended
Adrift in strange lands: The Accidentals, by Guadalupe Nettel, reviewed
A sense of unease runs through Nettel’s latest short stories as the protagonists start to lose their bearings in increasingly unfamiliar scenarios
