An incisive post-mortem on the state of the Victorian union, told (with a gossipy thrill) through the lives of five couples - Thomas Carlyle and Jane Welsh, John Ruskin and Effie Gray, Charl... read more
The late CB specialized in identifying patterns (eg The Seven Basic Plots). Here he examines three sets of ‘in-group’ attitudes that he believed to be increasingly pervasive, and dangero... read more
Stoppard's new play is a major event. Set in the Jewish quarter of Vienna during the first 50 years of the C20th, it is regarded as his most personal play to date.
Stoppard's new play is a major event. Set in the Jewish quarter of Vienna during the first 50 years of the C20th, it is regarded as his most personal play to date.
A labour of love and scholarship, this is a study of the extraordinary Royal Library of Dom Joao V (1706-1750) of Portugal that was destroyed in 1755 in the Lisbon earthquake. The library co... read more
A cultural history of ice and icy places, written between Northern Greenland and the Bodleian Library, in the Alps and at the Kinross Curling Club. NC, a poet, deftly blends memoir, literary... read more