More from Books
An unlikely comeback: Rare Singles, by Benjamin Myers, reviewed
Dinah, a soul aficionado from Scarborough, persuades the forgotten elderly singer ‘Bucky’ Bronco to be guest of honour at a special concert. But will it all be hugely embarrassing?
What did Britain really gain from the daring 1942 Bruneval raid?
The night-time dismantling of a German radar site in Normandy was a feat of skill, courage and imagination. But there was little improvement to Bomber Command casualties as a result
Does bitcoin fit the definition of good money?
Three philosophers readily acknowledge the cryptocurrency’s shortcomings, but emphasise its one important function – as a means of challenging autocratic regimes
Towards Zero: the gruesome countdown to the American Civil War
The North and South had been bitterly divided over slavery since the invention of the cotton gin in the 1790s, but the Battle of Fort Sumter in 1861 would prove the point of no return
Sarah Rainsford joins the long list of foreign correspondents banned from Russia
After decades of writing about Russian affairs, Rainsford now finds herself persona non grata – but admits she no longer feels nostalgia for the country
Does ‘artistic swimming’ truly describe the world’s hardest sport?
Journalists in the 1980s routinely mocked what was then known as synchronised swimming – until they tried it themselves, and emerged from the water gasping in shock
The crusading journalist who lectured on Shelley to coal miners
Loved and admired by fellow writers, Paul Foot was competitive, witty and exhilarating company – a friend of the friendless and a tireless campaigner for justice
Malice and intrigue in the shadow of Tom Tower
The eight Christ Church historians portrayed by Richard Davenport-Hines were supremely gifted as writers and talkers – but the unpleasantness of Oxford dons is not downplayed
Portrait of the artist and mother
Even the best-known female Impressionists, such as Morisot and Cassatt, were seen as mothers first and artists second – a view Hettie Judah sets out to reverse
A miracle beckons: Phantom Limb, by Chris Kohler, reviewed
When a severed hand, buried in the 17th century, is accidently unearthed, it proves to have magical powers. Will its discovery propel the local church minister to stardom?
After the Flood: There Are Rivers in the Sky, by Elif Shafak, reviewed
Water – essential to life and civilisation, but also a potentially destructive force – is the theme linking three disparate strands in Shafak’s magnificent new novel
Love it or loathe it – the umami flavour of anchovy
The anchovy is everywhere now, lacing salads, pizzas and appetizers. But in the past it was often denigrated in the West as bitter, putrid and ‘a worthless little fish’
A haunting theme: The Echoes, by Evie Wyld, reviewed
The many ghosts in Wyld’s novel include the recent occupant of a London flat, a girl in a faded photograph, and, most disturbingly, traumatised indigenous children in Australia
Absinthe and the casual fling: Ex-Wife, by Ursula Parrott, reviewed
A sensational bestseller, first published anonymously in 1929, centres around the adventures of a bright young American divorcée, seizing love wherever she can
The sad history of the Hawaiian crow
Sophie Osborn describes how this sociable, inquisitive, loud-cackling bird became extinct in the wild – and her own efforts to save the California Condor from the same fate
The rootlessness that haunts the children of immigrants
Edward Wong tries to connect with his Chinese heritage by retracing his father’s military postings before the Great Famine – but finds the country too changed to make comparisons
Doomed to immortality: The Book of Elsewhere, by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville, reviewed
For the past 80,000 years, our protagonist has been fated to respawn himself. With a similar being now tracking him, he longs for the option of non-existence
Mother of mysteries: Rosarita, by Anita Desai, reviewed
On a break in Mexico, a young Indian woman is regaled with stories of her mother’s past by a total stranger. But is it all a con?
The power of the brown American diva
Deborah Paredez celebrates ‘bold, beautiful, messy’ stars such as Tina Turner, Celia Cruz, Vikki Carr, Grace Jones and Aretha Franklin as fabulous role models for the oppressed
‘I am haunted by waters’: Norman Maclean and his lyrical ‘little blue book’
The author of A River Runs Through It emerges as wiry, sardonic, compassionate and inspirational from Rebecca McCarthy’s trenchant memoir
Born in the USA: how Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 album bridged the American political divide
Steven Hyden traces the impact of the title song, whose coruscating verses and affirmatory choruses cut both ways, and made its creator for a time the world’s greatest rock star
No laughing matter: The Material, by Camille Bordas, reviewed
A graduate course at the University of Chicago teaches stand-up to a group of aspiring young comedians. But the more you analyse humour, the less funny it becomes