mon 01/09/2025

book reviews and features

Katharine Kilalea: OK, Mr Field review - architecture and alienation on the Cape Town coast

Boyd Tonkin

Modern novels with an architectural theme have, to say the least, a mixed pedigree. At their finest, as in Thomas Bernhard’s Correction, the fluidity and ambiguity of prose fiction...

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Sarah Langford: In Your Defence review - messy lives

Katherine Waters

When Sarah Langford goes to work, she puts on warpaint and wig and acts. But she is not an actor. She defends those who might or might not be guilty of the crimes with with they’ve been charged,...

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Enter theartsdesk / h Club Young Influencer of the Year award

theartsdesk

Are you a young blogger, vlogger or writer in the field of the arts, books and culture? If so, we've a competition for you to enter.

The Hospital Club’s annual h Club100...

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Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott: Swan Song review - Capote redux

Marina Vaizey

Here you will find Babe Paley, Slim Keith, CZ Guest, Gloria Guinness, Lee Radziwill, Marella Agnelli, the stylish leaders of society, gorgeous, gilded, well-married ladies: the men they were with...

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Robert Gordon: Memphis Rent Party review - a fast-moving Mississippi anthology

Sebastian Scotney

“There’s a rhythm in the air around Memphis, there always has been,” Carl Perkins once said. "I don't know what it is, but it's magic." The city on the Mississippi lives up to its...

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Meg Wolitzer: The Female Persuasion review - the many faces of feminism

Markie Robson-Scott

Meg Wolitzer’s 10th novel has been hailed as a breakthrough, a feminist blockbuster, an embodiment of the zeitgeist. (Nicole Kidman has bought the film rights, which goes to show.) But...

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Frank Gardner: Ultimatum review - topical terrorism

Marina Vaizey

The journalist Frank Gardner has turned to fiction to illuminate with imagination the world that he knows inside out from years of reporting. His biographical trajectory, from scholar of the...

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Sophie Mackintosh: The Water Cure review - on the discipline of survival

Katherine Waters

A body can be pushed to the brink, to the point where thoughts flatten to a line of light, and come back from death, but the heart is complex and the damage it wreaks barely controllable. For...

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The World Of Moominvalley, Brighton Festival review - a fascinating insight into the world of Tove Jansson

Katie Colombus

It was no matter that journalist Daniel Hahn dropped out ill at the 11th hour of this "audience with" event. Author Philip Ardagh's deep knowledge and unflappable demeanour comfortably carried the...

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William Trevor: Last Stories review - final intimations

Marina Vaizey

An Irishman who spent more than half a century in London and then Devon, and a prolific writer – nearly 20 novels...

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