Books

Is there room for people like me in Larkin’s England?

His poems ignored Britain’s postwar diversity and dynamism, and his racist language challenged my love of his craft.

Nora Ephron and the art of self-narrative

The writer and film-maker poured her life into her journalism and romcoms. What can a new biography tell us that…

The Lighthouse of Stalingrad: how Putin exploited a wartime myth

There are echoes of the invasion of Ukraine in the epic battle for Stalingrad, but this time Russia is on…

Nietzsche before the breakdown

In the 1880s, the ailing philosopher prophesied the West’s violent decline – but not even he could prevent it.

Reviewed in short: New books from Jonathan Freedland, Kate Molleson, Linda Villarosa and Benjamin Wood

The Escape Artist by Freedland, Sound Within Sound by Molleson, Under the Skin by Villarosa and The Young Accomplice by…

15 March 1985: To be a writer and to be black in Britain is to be in a corner.

The rise and fall of Lex Greensill

How David Cameron’s favourite banker became the focus of a billion-dollar scandal.