Book review – fiction
Butcher's Crossing is not at all like Stoner — but it's just as superbly written
John Williams’s brilliant 1965 novel, Stoner, was republished last year by Vintage to just, if surprisingly widespread, acclaim and went…
An utterly charming, totally bonkers short novel
This utterly charming, totally bonkers short novel is something from another age. There are elements of A Handful of Dust…
The best children's books for Christmas
Animal stories for children are always tricky; as J.R.R. Tolkien observed in his essay on fairy stories, you can end…
Should Elizabeth Jane Howard have brought back the Cazalets?
Some years ago, a woman wrote to Dear Mary, at the back of this periodical, with an unusual problem: she…
Marriage Material, by Sathnam Sanghera - review
Sathnam Sanghera, in his family memoir The Boy with the Topknot, heaped much largely affectionate contempt and ridicule on his…
A Bright Moon for Fools, by Jasper Gibson - review
Harry Christmas, the central character of this bitterly funny debut novel, is a middle- aged, overweight alcoholic, with no friends…