sun 29/06/2025

book reviews and features

Claire Tomalin: A Life of My Own review - the biographer on herself

Marina Vaizey

The title says it all, or at least quite a lot. Luminously intelligent, an exceptionally hard worker, bilingual in French, a gifted...

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Anne Applebaum: Red Famine review - hope around a heart of darkness

David Nice

Hands both sensitive and surgical are needed to guide a reader into the heart of the 20th century’s second biggest genocide and out again. Anne Applebaum is the right person for a...

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Adam Macqueen: The Lies of the Land review - light, but enlightening

Liz Thomson

We are now firmly in the post-truth era as defined by Oxford Dictionaries: "adjective - relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping...

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Robert Harris: Munich review - reselling Hitler

Jasper Rees

Robert Harris’s first book about Hitler told the story of the hoax diaries which seduced Rupert Murdoch and Hugh Trevor-Roper. After Selling Hitler (1986) came Fatherland (1992...

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John le Carré: A Legacy of Spies review - the master in twilight mood

Marina Vaizey

Over his long career – 23 novels, memoirs, his painfully believable narratives adapted into extraordinary films (10 for the big screen) and for television – John le Carré has created a world that...

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Extract: Peter Brook - Tip of the Tongue: Reflections on Language and Meaning

Peter Brook

A long time ago when I was very young, a voice hidden deep within me whispered, "Don’t take anything for granted. Go and see for yourself." This little nagging murmur has led me to so...

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Sigrid Rausing: Mayhem review - you want it darker?

Sebastian Scotney

There is fictional Nordic noir. And then there is this, the real thing. Subject matter really couldn’t be much darker than that of Mayhem: A Memoir in which publisher,...

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Val McDermid: Insidious Intent review - dark and expert crime writing

Marina Vaizey

Val McDermid has written close on 30 award-winning thrillers and suspense novels, in four series, since...

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Omar Robert Hamilton: The City Always Wins review - Egypt's revolution, up close and personal

Boyd Tonkin

A few days ago we learned that British taxpayers have unwittingly donated around £1m. in aid to the police and court systems of Egypt’s military dictatorship, via an opaque “Conflict, Stability...

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Fred Vargas: The Accordionist review - intriguing Gallic sleuthing yarn

Marina Vaizey

The two haunting series of crime ...

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