All Among the Barley is an unflinching account of the harshness and beauty of rural life
Melissa Harrison combines an eye for detail and an ear for prose with a skill for constructing a plot.
By
Books
Latest in
Books
The Silence of the Girls: a revisionist reimagining of the Iliad
Even if Pat Barker’s book isn’t a great one, it is perhaps a necessary one.
By
Kate Atkinson’s Transcription is a nimble and convincing tale of espionage
The author clearly amuses herself with the sheer implausibility and theatricality of the world she describes.
By
The British in India offers a rich and nuanced social history of empire
Historian David Gilmour is interested in the motives and identities of individuals.
By
Why We Get the Wrong Politicians is a vital and compelling read
Isabel Hardman’s book explores some of the fiddly, complicated and frankly unbelievable ways in which our political system works.
By
Breaking News: Alan Rusbridger asks a lot of questions, with no certain answers
The former Guardian editor retired in 2015 but his story has, in his own words, “no ending, happy or otherwise”.
By
The tragedy of power: how Thomas Cromwell engineered his own downfall
Diarmaid MacCulloch’s superb biography explores the motives of Henry VIII’s right-hand man.
By
Belinda Bauer’s Snap, a rare Booker-longlisted crime novel, is uneven at best
It’s hard to understand how the Man Booker judges could have deemed Snap to be of sufficient depth or imagination…
By