In the early 20th century an easily overlooked square in Bloomsbury was the home, at one time or another, of the modernist poet H.D., Dorothy L Sayers, the classicist Jane Harrison, the hist... read more
A brutal uprising during the Protestant Reformation has seized the imagination of this historical novelist, cinematically resonant in our extremist times.
An elderly woman in a home is losing her power of speech: a therapist delicately helps her to unburden herself of a secret... The dark horse of new French fiction.
Oh to be seven again, to pore over 100 pages of fascinating details on the physics of flight and aerodynamics with gorgeous retro drawings of ailerons, propellers and flaps by a graphic desi... read more
Post-war France through the despatches of Mavis Gallant, James Baldwin, A J Liebling and others. This collection is the source for Wes Anderson's forthcoming film, 'The French Dispatch', and... read more
A compelling portrait of the writer and her engagement with her own world. Constructed as a series of essays on art, memory, painting, rank, property, appearance, etc., this is immensely rea... read more
From being America's most significant ally in the region, Iran suddenly became its greatest adversary: this account, from 1941 onwards, explains how the Shah himself contrived to lose suppor... read more