More from Books
Labour of love? What women need to know about childbirth
Pregnant women are still woefully ill-prepared for the gruelling experience ahead of them and the life-changing damage that often results, says Lucy Jones
The Franco-Prussian war changed the map of Europe – so why are we so ignorant about it?
Rachel Chrastil describes how Bismarck, relying on Gallic pride to provoke the war he wanted, ensured that France would fight without a single ally
The shocking truth behind the Baghdad bombings of 1950 and 1951
Avi Shlaim claims to have uncovered undeniable proof that Zionist agents were responsible for targeting the Jewish community, forcing them to flee Iraq and settle in Israel
The Prefab Four
Monkeying around on TV vastly increased the group’s sales and popularity but prevented them from ever being taken seriously, says Tom Kemper
Secrets of the couch
When a sex therapist arranges for his clients’ sessions to be secretly recorded, there are life-changing consequences for two women involved
The heyday of Parisian erotica
In the mid-20th century, titles such as Whip Angels, White Thighs, School for Sin and The Wisdom of the Lash joined Lolita and The Naked Lunch on Olympia Press’s list
Horsing around
Tiffany Francis-Baker explores the many ways in which our countryside has been shaped by the horse over the centuries
A last-minute escape from the Holocaust
In a profoundly moving family memoir, Daniel Finkelstein describes the miracle by which his mother, as a child, was rescued from the hell of Belsen
The twists keep coming
Murray’s immersive, beautifully written mega-tome about a family in a small town in Ireland is as funny as it is deeply disturbing
The holy fool
The beleaguered monarch cuts a sad figure at the opening of David Carpenter’s second volume of biography – in contrast to his brilliant arch-enemy Simon de Montfort
Chris Mullin’s eye for the absurd remains as keen as ever
Having retired from parliament in 2010, Mullin has less insider knowledge than before, but the political one-liners in his latest diaries are still highly entertaining
Between woods and water
Patrick Barkham pays tribute to the much-missed nature writer, whose core response to the call of the wild animated everything he did
Purpose built
Hugh Pearman examines a wide range of building types apart from houses, including museums, theatres, schools, shopping malls, palaces and places of worship
Gruesome British folk sports – from cheese-rolling to Hare Pie Scramble
Harry Pearson’s tour of village games over the centuries even includes a Georgian football match where an Englishman’s severed head was used as the ball
Chance encounters
The fates of members of a Jewish family depend on accidental meetings, the boarding of a ship or the ring of a phone in this complex fable woven from 20th-century history
The company of hens could be the best cure for depression
Their jostling energy and distinct personalities bring joy not only to their owners but increasingly to children in therapy and lonely pensioners in care homes
Among the giants
A dramatic rejuvenation drug is being distributed to a wealthy elite, enabling them to tower over the other inhabitants of the mysterious lake city of Othrys
Love in the shadow of the Nazi threat
Florian Illies describes the charged atmosphere of Europe in the early 1930s, as people grew increasingly desperate to celebrate their last chance of freedom
Proud to be British
Sunder Katwala, of Indian-Irish heritage, analyses the whiteness of the Remain vote, seeing Britain’s pro-European movement as a case of cosmopolitanism without diversity
Daily life at the 18th-century Bank of England
Anne L. Murphy provides a vivid picture of clients, clerks and couriers, pay and perks, cases of fraud and incompetence and the underappreciated threat of fire and violence
An unstable world
Adapted from interviews with a trainer from Iowa, Scanlan’s novel is a disturbing portrait of violence and squalor behind the scenes at racing stables
Literary fun and games
Academic jargon, back-scratching and literary scandals were all ripe for treatment in the long-running N.B. by J.C. column – now available in a glorious miscellany
Will we ever know the real George Orwell?
D.J. Taylor explores how the fracture between the person Orwell wanted to be and the person he seemed to be runs through his life and work
Double trouble
Elsa, a concert pianist, is starting to panic. Her adoptive father is dying, and she keeps meeting her doppleganger, fuelling an obsession with her origins
The danger of making too many friends
Elizabeth Day recognises that real friends need nurturing, and spreading yourself too thinly doesn’t help anyone
