December 9, 2021 Hey Hi Hello: Five decades of Pop Culture from Britain’s Broadcasting DJ Pioneer by Annie Nightingale Review by Liz Dexter Nightingale was the first female DJ on Radio One, having been a journalist and live TV presenter before then and…
December 9, 2021 The Sinner and the Saint: Dostoevsky, A Crime and Its Punishment by Kevin Birmingham Review by Karen Langley The bicentenary of the birth of Fyodor Dostoevsky has seen a flurry of books about the man and his work….
December 2, 2021 Her Diaries and Notebooks, by Patricia Highsmith, edited by Anna von Planta Review by Basil Ransome-Davies What a prodigious event this book is. Highsmith was an assiduous note-keeper and diarist. The calendar spread is 1941-1995. The…
November 4, 2021 George V: Never a Dull Moment, by Jane Ridley Reviewed by Elaine Simpson-Long A few years ago I read Jane Ridley’s biography of Edward VII, which I found a fascinating, fully rounded portrayal…
October 12, 2021 Golem Girl: A Memoir by Riva Lehrer Reviewed by Rebecca Foster In February, the inaugural Barbellion Prize was awarded to Golem Girl, visual artist Riva Lehrer’s account of growing up with…
October 12, 2021 Stalin: the Court of the Red Tsar, by Simon Sebag Montefiore Review by Basil Ransome Davies In Young Stalin the author studied his subject’s early career under the microscope. In this epic volume he expands…
October 5, 2021 The Right Sort of Girl by Anita Rani Review by Liz Dexter How on earth did I get to where I am today? This is no overnight success story, this is not…
September 28, 2021 Two nature memoirs set in the New Forest: Goshawk Summer by James Aldred & The Circling Sky by Neil Ansell By Rebecca Foster Two recent memoirs have shone a spotlight on the fauna and management strategies of the New Forest, a place my Hampshire-raised…
September 7, 2021 Young Stalin, by Simon Sebag Montefiore Review by Basil Ransome-Davies No one expects an approving biography of Joseph Stalin any more than they do the Spanish Inquisition. He is a…
August 31, 2021 Traitor King: The scandalous exile of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, by Andrew Lownie Review by Elaine Simpson-Long When I was about eleven years old I remember reading an article about the Abdication in the Sunday Express, which…
August 19, 2021 Faber & Faber: The Untold Story by Toby Faber Reviewed by Elaine Simpson-Long In 2019 I attended a lecture given by Toby Faber and found him to be as stylish and witty as…
August 17, 2021 Clothes… and other things that matter by Alexandra Shulman Reviewed by Anna Hollingsworth The last item of clothing that I bought was a pair of pink dungarees from M&S children’s department nearly two…
August 3, 2021 Broken Greek by Pete Paphides Reviewed by Liz Dexter Stuck with a bunch of friends who seemed to think I was something other than what I was; guilty about…
July 16, 2021 On Love and Tyranny: The Life and Politics of Hannah Arendt by Ann Heberlein Translated by Alice Menzies Review by Karen Langley The concept of “the banality of evil”, coined by philosopher Hannah Arendt, has become famous (some…
July 13, 2021 Beeswing: Fairport, Folk Rock and Finding My Voice 1967-75 by Richard Thompson Review by Annabel There are still people who doubtless haven’t heard of Richard Thompson. To those of us in the know though, he is…
July 6, 2021 Dreaming of Rose: A Biographer’s Journal, by Sarah LeFanu Review by Helen Parry Reconstructing anyone’s life poses enormous difficulties, for however copious the evidence of letters, diaries, journals, and eye-witness accounts, the problem…
July 2, 2021 Three Martini Afternoons at the Ritz: The Rebellion of Sylvia Plath & Anne Sexton by Gail Crowther Review by Karen Langley Despite their groundbreaking achievements as poets, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton are still too often remembered for their dramatic lives…
June 29, 2021 A Stinging Delight by David Storey Reviewed by Harriet Back in 2004 I had the great pleasure of meeting David Storey – rugby player, painter, novelist, poet, playwright and filmmaker…
June 24, 2021 Burning Man: The Ascent of D.H. Lawrence by Frances Wilson Reviewed by Harriet I always feel as if I stood naked for the fire of Almighty God to go through me….I often think of…
June 7, 2021 Dostoevsky in Love: An Intimate Life by Alex Christofi Review by Karen Langley It could be argued that much fiction is in a sense autobiographical, and one man who certainly poured his life…
June 4, 2021 Monica Jones, Philip Larkin and Me by John Sutherland Review by Karen Langley Monica Jones, the subject of a new biography by John Sutherland, is a fascinating figure who, up until now, has…
June 4, 2021 Fifty Sounds by Polly Barton Reviewed by Anna Hollingsworth Why country X? Why language Y? Anyone who has lived abroad or taken up a foreign language will be familiar…
June 3, 2021 Inventory of a Life Mislaid: An Unreliable Memoir, by Marina Warner Review by Helen Parry In spring 1944 the English officer Esmond Warner attended a party in Bari hosted by a widow, Signora Terzulli, and…
June 1, 2021 The Muse by Nell Dunn Review by Annabel There is a particular sub-genre of memoir that almost goes into biography but fundamentally remains a memoir. I’m talking about memoirs…
May 20, 2021 Valentine Ackland: A Transgressive Life by Frances Bingham Reviewed by Gill Davies This is a remarkable book about a remarkable woman. Valentine Ackland (1906-1969) was “transgressive” in so many ways. She was…
