MUST READS By Jane Shilling for the Daily Mail Published: 22:10 GMT, 7 November 2019 | Updated: 22:10 GMT, 7 November 2019 The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley (Harper Collins £8.99, 416 pp) The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley (Harper Collins £8.99, 416 pp) A group of old university friends spend New Year in a … Read more
HISTORY COCONUT: HOW THE SHY FRUIT SHAPED OUR WORLD by Robin Laurance (History Press £15.99, 224pp) You’d never have guessed it, but the humble coconut underpins rather a lot of what we laughingly call western civilisation. Without it, millions more soldiers would have died in both world wars. John F Kennedy might never have become … Read more
WHAT BOOK first turned comedian and writer Arthur Smith to reading? Arthur Smith is currently reading Sloot by the Irish writer Ian Macpherson He would take the Complete Works of Shakespeare to a desert island The Man Who Didn’t Wash His Dishes by Phyllis Krasilovsky first got him reading By Daily Mail Reporter Published: 22:00 GMT, … Read more
HISTORY TIME TAMED by Nicholas Foulkes (Simon & Schuster £25, 256 pp) Ruth Belville had the most incredible job — she sold the time. Literally. Three days a week, the ‘Clock Woman of London’ would travel to Greenwich, synchronise her watch with the time given by the Royal Observatory, then visit businesses all over London so that … Read more
WHAT BOOK would children’s and Gothic novelist Michelle Paver take to a desert island? Michelle Paver is currently reading Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting Of Hill House She would take SAS Survival Handbook by John Wiseman to a desert island The novelist revealed My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante left her cold By Daily Mail Reporter … Read more
BIOGRAPHY MRS DELANY: A LIFE by Clarissa Campbell Orr (Yale £30, 448 pp) Nestled in the archives of the British Museum is a series of paper collages by an 18th-century artist. Though few people know her name, Mary Delany’s exquisite creations are some of the most original works in the museum’s collection. Mary Granville was … Read more
BOOK OF THE WEEK THE LETTERS OF COLE PORTER Edited by Cliff Eisen and Dominic McHugh (Yale £25, 672 pp) Cole Porter was the most debonair of composers and lyricists, emblematic, I always felt, of a perfect dry martini, served straight-up with a twist of lemon peel. He was responsible for such classics as Miss … Read more
THE TOPEKA SCHOOL by Ben Lerner (Granta £16.99, 304 pp) THE TOPEKA SCHOOL by Ben Lerner (Granta £16.99, 304 pp) American auto-fiction star Ben Lerner’s third novel —which comes endorsed by the uber-cool likes of Sally Rooney and Maggie Nelson — is a potent, painful picking-apart of trauma; the beginnings of the age of information … Read more
CLASSIC CRIME By Barry Turner for the Daily Mail Published: 22:02 GMT, 31 October 2019 | Updated: 22:02 GMT, 31 October 2019 A DANGEROUS ENGAGEMENT by Ashley Weaver (Allison & Busby £14.99, 350 pp) A DANGEROUS ENGAGEMENT by Ashley Weaver (Allison & Busby £14.99, 350 pp) A rich socialite with a talent for delving into … Read more
TEEN AND YOUNG ADULT By Sally Morris for the Daily Mail Published: 22:02 GMT, 31 October 2019 | Updated: 22:02 GMT, 31 October 2019 DEEPLIGHT by Frances Hardinge (Macmillan £12.99, 448 pp) DEEPLIGHT by Frances Hardinge (Macmillan £12.99, 448 pp) Decades ago, the Undersea Gods of Myriad rose up in rage and destroyed one another, … Read more
HISTORICAL By Elizabeth Buchan For The Daily Mail Published: 22:02 GMT, 31 October 2019 | Updated: 22:02 GMT, 31 October 2019 THE EIGHTH LIFE (FOR BRILKA) by Nino Haratischvili (Scribe £20, 944 pp) ‘So we must try and make something of this,’ writes Niza at the beginning of this huge, sweeping, multi- award-winning historical family drama … Read more
MUST READS By Jane Shilling for the Daily Mail Published: 22:01 GMT, 31 October 2019 | Updated: 22:01 GMT, 31 October 2019 THE ASTRONAUT SELECTION TEST BOOK by Tim Peake (Century £12.99, 256 pp) THE ASTRONAUT SELECTION TEST BOOK by Tim Peake (Century £12.99, 256 pp) In 2008, Tim Peake applied to train as an … Read more
PICTURE THIS By Gerry Fallon For The Daily Mail Published: 22:01 GMT, 31 October 2019 | Updated: 22:01 GMT, 31 October 2019 THE ART OF LOOKING UP by Catherine McCormack (White Lion Publishing £35, 240 pp) THE ART OF LOOKING UP by Catherine McCormack (White Lion Publishing £35, 240 pp) This book features 40 of … Read more