A lesbian couple - one of whom is an egotistical, bullying narcissist - decide to have children. The novel turns on what happens when the decent one finally determines to leave, taking at le... read more
A spin on Huckleberry Finn, this harrowing (and characteristically witty) account of his adventures is narrated by James, a runaway slave. It's a scary reflection on racism today.
A quiet and thoughtful novel about a girl growing up on an island off the Welsh coast before WW2, whose horizons are altered by the arrival of two ethnographers.
Roads not taken, not thought about for twenty years, until bad news turns the protagonist's head for her Irish home. The humane and introspective sequel to Brooklyn.
The Nuremberg Trials had their counterpart in Japan. This is a thorough investigation of that process, and its significance to what happened afterwards in Asia.
A society's way of dealing with death can be very revealing. Here, the distinguished historian of Victorian Britain and the domestic sphere shows how their behaviour around death offers deep... read more