Allegorizings by Jan Morris
Review by Liz Dexter “If I had any moral principles to declare, I came to realize, they were extremely simplistic. First, there was the supreme importance of kindness as a…
Orchard: A Year in England’s Eden by Benedict Macdonald & Nicholas Gates
Reviewed by Rebecca Foster Bristol friends and BBC colleagues Ben Macdonald and Nick Gates set out to chronicle a year in the life of a traditional Herefordshire orchard that has…
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 of his life and personality. In…
The Dawn of Everything: A new history of humanity, by David Graeber and David Wengrow
Review by Peter Reason This book offers a revision of our understanding of human cultural history, and so opens possibilities for different, maybe more creative and liberating, arrangements for contemporary…
Raising Laughter: How the Sitcom Kept Britain Smiling in the ‘70s by Robert Sellers
Review by Annabel I watched an awful lot of telly in the 1970s, my formative teenage years. It was thus inevitable that between the early evening slots occupied by Top…
Lion City: Singapore and the Invention of Modern Asia by Jeevan Vasagar
Review by Liz Dexter Open to global flows of capital but largely closed to political change, Singapore is a reform-minded dictator’s dream, suggesting that a country can enjoy the prosperity…
Light Rains Sometimes Fall: A British Year Through Japan’s 72 Seasons by Lev Parikian
Review by Liz Dexter “For Japan’s lotus blossom, praying mantis and bear, we have bramble, wood louse and urban fox” Lev Parikian, a writer, birdwatcher and conductor, had already started…
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 spina bifida, entering Disabled culture, and…
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 his approach, while still paying attention…
The Story of the Country House by Clive Aslet
Reviewed by Harriet My definition of the country house is this: a work of domestic architecture in a rural location, surrounded by its own land (although not necessarily a landed…
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 a fairy tale, not in the…
The Transgender Issue by Shon Faye
By Liz Dexter This book is primarily concerned with explaining how society, as it is currently arranged, often makes trans people’s lives unnecessarily difficult. Yet, in posing solutions to these…
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 husband and I have often visited…
Mary Magdalene by Adriana Valerio
Translated by Wendy Wheatley Reviewed by Harriet Adriana Valerio is an Italian historian and theologian. One of the first women in Italy to be awarded a theology degree, she has…
Star Turns by Tim Walker
Review by Annabel Tim Walker’s name may ring a bell, particularly with broadsheet readers. During his career as a journalist, he has written for The Observer and The Daily Telegraph,…
The Red Planet: A Natural History of Mars, by Simon Morden
Review by Annabel Who hasn’t been enthralled by the idea of there being ‘Life on Mars’ even if said life ends up as the first humans to visit the red…
Your Voice Speaks Volumes: It’s Not What You Say but How You Say It, by Jane Setter
Review by Liz Dexter I would like the message of this chapter to be that we should all be more tolerant of people’s voice quality and pitch ranges. As a…
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 murderous monster, a devil from a…
Dead Famous by Greg Jenner
Review by Basil Ransome-Davies Andy Warhol (if it was he, who disowned the soft impeachment) was kidding when he said that in the future everyone would be world-famous for fifteen…
A Room of Her Own: Inside the Homes and Lives of Creative Women by Robyn Lea
Review by Liz Dexter Robyn Lea has a theory that there is a new Renaissance happening among creative women, who are expressing themselves and their creativity in every aspect of…
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 my mother used to take each…
History & Politics, Feminism, Sociology
Mind and Body, Medicine, Psychology
Myths & Legends, Fairytale
Non Fiction
The Oxford Illustrated History of Witchcraft and Magic, edited by Owen Davies
Reviewed by Harriet If there’s one thing that this impressively learned and wide-ranging volume amply demonstrates, it’s that an interest in magic and witchcraft has persisted through the ages in…
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 his illustrious friends and relations, and…
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 years ago. So I must confess…