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Deathly silencing
Is there a woke case to be made for freedom of expression? Jacob Mchangama certainly seems to think so. This…
The Old Horse and the braying donkey
NoViolet Bulawayo’s first novel We Need New Names,shortlisted for the Booker in 2013, was a charming, tender gem, suffused with…
Sins of the mothers
Frida Liu, the 39-year-old mother of a toddler named Harriet, has a very bad day which will haunt her for…
Radiant yesterdays
Richard Cohen was once one of our foremost book editors as well as being an Olympic sabre champion. Since moving…
A great talent-spotter
There’s no excuse for dullness, especially when writing about a life as eventful as Joseph Johnson’s, the publisher and bookseller…
Kindred spirits
‘Dearest Gwen,’ writes Celia Paul, born 1959, to Gwen John, died 1939, ‘I know this letter to you is an…
A nation of seafarers
An ocean of clichés surrounds Britain’s maritime history, from Chaucer’s Shipman to the ‘little ships’ at Dunkirk. Tom Nancollas, whose…
The first intercessor
The Catholic church has always venerated Mary (‘Mother of God’) above other saints. But in recent years there has been…
Pyramid schemes
Because I once made the mistake of dabbling in Egyptology, some ‘friend’ will schwack me every other week with a…
Last-minute reprieve
A bully-boy leader. A corrupt, out-of-touch regime. A twisted reading of history. An unprovoked, military-led landgrab. A domestic disinformation blitz.…
A dicey business
When I was 14 my father took me to a bookmaker’s and encouraged me to place a bet. He wanted…
A crooks’ paradise
The war in Ukraine has turned a lot of people’s attention to oligarchs in the UK. How did these guys…
Character is king
Thriller writers are hard pressed to stand out in what’s become a very crowded field. As a result, from Cardiff…
All England in a little room
In the tight dark maze of alleys that wind between the Thames and St Paul’s the pleasures of the living…
Enduring legends
Once upon a time there was a collection of stories that everybody loved. They involved brave heroes such as Perseus…
Gone but not forgotten
Take a walk in the English countryside and you get the impression that little has changed. The churches and farmhouses,…
Driven into the ground
Remember ashtrays in cars? Soon cars will themselves become objects of wet-eyed nostalgic reverie. A thrilling era of propelling ourselves,…
Bombs over Belfast
Caught outside at the start of a raid in the Belfast Blitz as the incendiary bombs rain down, Audrey looks…
A controlling monster
If vivid, drily hilarious tales about messy families stuffed with passive aggression and seething resentment are your thing, you will…
Knotty problems
Anne Tyler’s 24th novel French Braid opens in 2010 in Philadelphia train station. We find the teenage Serena, who has…
Which Mary is which?
Is there a patron saint of conjecture? Perhaps it is a name known only to Bible scholars, who have rich…
An awful warning
Sins of My Father begins with an ending. Describing her 61-year-old parent’s final desperate flight from a life of vibrant…
Cold comfort
The story of the five women waiting at home for Captain Scott and his doomed polar party is naturally occluded…
Mission accomplished
Nigel Farage was never even an MP, but Michael Crick argues convincingly that he is one of the top five…
Will we ever recover?
Jay Elwes 2 April 2022 9:00 am
Modern British history can be divided into two parts: before Covid and after. That is the central pillar of this…