Books
A matter of detail
This is a very nuanced and subtle novel by Philip Hensher, which manages the highwire act of treating its characters…
Acting the part
Actress is the novel Anne Enright has been rehearsing since her first collection of stories, The Portable Virgin (1991). It…
He who dared
Of the many bleak moments that have lodged in my mind since reading this extraordinary book the most unshakeable is…
Homage to Pieter the great
There is a vogue at the moment for books which use art as a vehicle for examining the writer’s wider…
From the lake of dreams…
Kapka Kassabova’s previous travel book, Border, was rightly acclaimed and won several prizes. The author travelled to the edge of…
… to endless wakefulness
The insomniac may come to dread the night’s solitude, but the next day poses the greater challenge. That’s when you…
Hair down in a sea of chignons
The January dance stage can be a site of naked contrition. Like a tippler grasping at green juice after a…
The heroine of the plains
Calamity Jane’s legend as brave frontierswoman, crack shot and compassionate nurse to the wounded was nurtured largely by herself. The truth, says Sam Leith, was dismayingly different
The emperor’s new clothes
In 1935 the troops of Benito Mussolini’s sinister-clownish Roman Empire II invaded Ethiopia, in large part out of spite for…
The downside of mindfulness
Way back in 1996 Norman E. Sjoman published a book called The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace, in which…
Obscure objects of desire
In the world of classic cars, barn-finds sometimes do occur. An old Mercedes Gullwing might be discovered under tarps and…
School of hard knocks
Although widely read in her native Hungary, Magda Szabó, who died in 2007, did not gain international acclaim until the…
A masterpiece of neo-noir
In one of the most frequently quoted lines of post-war European cinema, a character in the 1976 Wim Wenders film…
Buns in the oven
Does a practical joke differ from a hoax? It could be a matter of scale. Anyone can deploy a whoopee…
Life on a tightrope
The journalist Deepa Anappara turns to crime with her debut novel, Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line (Chatto & Windus,…
Truth, lies and dirty money
A.D. Miller’s gripping new book is set largely during Ukraine’s 2004 Orange Revolution, which Miller covered as a journalist. Ten…
A star that waxed and waned
The story of how Hugo Vickers eventually tracked down the former Gladys Deacon, Duchess of Marlborough is almost as fascinating…
Stone not gathering moss
If you are part of that multitude of Australians who fear that our country is drifting backwards – becoming less…
Dresden: The Fire and the Darkness
Dresden defined the horror of war: revenge and cold-blooded murder. It still does, says Christopher Priest
The sound of Brum
Those who conduct the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra may not be aware that musicians fill in a form after…
Proper horror
anna asMany of our favourite folk tales have lost much of their original Gothic horror in later versions. By contrast,…
Asia’s ancient feuds
The mutual animosity of the Far East Asian nations can strike some as baffling, given their shared history and cultures,…
Nothing to see here
Anyone reading Clement Knox’s history of seduction for salacious entertainment is likely to be disappointed: it contains no mention of…
Snowbound isolation
In my twenties I once visited a lonely spot among the western Himalayas called Zhuldok in the Suru valley. Politically…
Run for your life
Lydia and Luca are hiding in the shower room of their home while 16 members of her family are murdered.…
