Petterson has not been kind to his protagonist, removing from him by traumatic means his wife, three daughters, parents and brothers. It is no surprise that he is pole-axed by grief; will Pe... read more
Draws on his own family's experience of emigrating from India to Britain and America to show how the West is being destroyed not by immigrants but by its fear of immigrants.
Parini really did travel around Scotland with Borges in an old Morris Minor, his ears flapping, heart opening and mind sharpening all the way. The result is a wonderful work of autofiction -... read more
A rollicking account of the pursuit of love among the Good, the Bad and the Beautiful; abridged from 3 large volumes of memoirs that he left on his death in 2011.
A biography of Mildred Harnack (by her great-great-niece), the American woman who worked with political activists in Berlin1930s and then, when WW2 broke out, with the German resitance. She ... read more
From the author of the excellent 'The Edge of the World: How the North Sea Made Us Who We Are', an account of the dazzling city that was the hub of the known world in the C16th.
Raised in Nazi Germany, at 18, Wulff Scherchen was Britten's muse and lover. When the composer went to the USA during the war, Wulff was interned as an enemy alien and transported to Canada,... read more
Just 28 when he found Nineveh, Layard later witnessed the Charge of the Light Brigade and reported on the Indian Mutiny: his life was action-packed. This new biog argues that he was deeply r... read more
Especially from the mountainous region of Northern Macedonia. Nitsou is Macedonian-Canadian, and grew up cooking with three generations of her family before Cordon Bleu training etc.
Beautifully attuned to her subject, CA unravels Sebald's work from his life with subtlety and sympathy. She has previously written a marvellous biography of Primo Levi.
How to keep chickens, make soap, create a kitchen garden, dip candles, tie knots, and a lot more. This might well take the place of the old 'Weekend Books' in an era of lockdowns.
His mistakes as well as his achievements, and a fascinating post- Brexit look at our history since WW2, in which our leaders still vye for Churchill's mythic mantle to legitimize their polit... read more
A biography of the Swiss tennis divinity, champion of sweetie-coloured blazers, master of self-possession, likened by fellow tennis players to Michelangelo for his skill.
A cultural history through seven coloured lenses. Its broad frame of reference encompasses Shakespeare, Goldfinger (first name Auric), Goethe, Roman marbles, Bronze Age gold, Mayan jade... C... read more
Off-kilter, strange and funny short stories by the wonderful Russian writer and playwright. Her other works published in English (and here we raise our chapka to Pushkin Press) have been one... read more
Translated from the Italian, this biography marks the 700th anniversary of Dante's death. It brings to life the context in which he wrote. (Barbero's book on Waterloo was excellent.)