Vol 1 was shortlisted last year for the Baillie Gifford Prize. WF knew Freud extremely well; he chronicles the colourful private life and pictures with detachment.
A children's illustrated version of this remarkable book, about a cabin by a German lake and the five families who live there during the course of the C20th, and what happens to them. Ages 6... read more
It was the biggest seaborne landing in history; a difficult campaign, not least because of the heat. Its success was hard-won, and crucial to the course of the war.
There are seven exceptionally talented siblings in this family of musicians, and they went to a state comprehensive in Nottingham before all moving to the Royal Academy of Music. This is the... read more
A new translation of the ancient Welsh manuscript. There are poems here from before the Norman Conquest, copied in the C14th and saved by Robert Vaughan in the C17th. Taliesin was an inspir... read more
Rebanks inherited his grandfather's farm in the hills of the Lake District and became a sheep farmer, developing a fine flock of Herdwicks. The first part of that story he told, to great ac... read more
Huygens developed the theory of light travelling as a wave, invented the mechanism for the pendulum clock, and discovered the rings of Saturn - via a telescope that he had also invented. His... read more
What to do with all that extra starter? The queen of sourdough baking extends her realm - brioche, millefeuille, morello cherry shortbread... Her first book, The Sourdough School (£25), has... read more
The director of the Bodleian includes some of the US president's deleted tweets in an historical survey that ranges from the Library of Alexandria to the Windrush papers. The surprise is tha... read more
The indefatigable author of 'Schindler's Ark' picks up here on the story of Dickens's youngest son, who emigrated to Australia to become a sheep farmer.
A study of the beginnings of the idea of the 'modern artist'. Not set in Paris or New York, as you might expect, but London among the students at the Royal Academy between 1769 to 1830.
The clandestine manoeuvres of one branch of military intelligence, responsible for saving thousands of lives. Airey Neave, Jimmy Langley, Sam Derry and Mary Lindell emerge as central figures... read more
Another wonderful illustrated volume of tangential history from Yale (see the book on guitars, below, in 'Music'). This is an exploration of how the rose has inspired fashion over hundreds o... read more
Zulfikar was executed in 1979; three of his children were murdered. One can understand why the brilliant author Fatima keeps her distance from politics.
The perambulations of the Irish photographer around the world to beautiful places. With contributions by Marella Caracciolo Chia, James Reginato and Tom Delavan.
A long look at the magazine, founded in 1867, and its editors, stylists and photographers and contributors: as well as Dior and Schiaparelli, McQueen and Tom Ford, there's Diana Vreeland, Je... read more