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Books

  • Sally Rooney.

    Fiction
    Intermezzo by Sally Rooney review – surprise moves in love, loss and chess

    Alexandra Harris
  • Hilary Mantel.

    Books
    Hilary Mantel was my mentor. Here are seven things she taught me about writing – and life

    Katie Ward
    In 2007, after my manuscript had been rejected for the 44th time, a colleague offered to introduce me to a published novelist. It turned out to be Mantel – and I was fortunate enough to soak up her wisdom for the next 15 years
  • A tiger roams in The Fertile Earth.

    Book of the day
    The Fertile Earth by Ruthvika Rao review – rebellion and romance in India

    Yagnishsing Dawoor
    A dazzling debut weaves a love story around class and caste, at a time of revolutionary violence and change
  • Robert Harris.

    Fiction
    Precipice by Robert Harris review – the prime minister’s affair

  • Timothée Chalamet in Call Me By Your Name.

    Autobiography and memoir
    My Roman Year by André Aciman review – Memento amore

    Chris Power
  • Gerald Durrell and his wife, Lee Durrell, with a barn owl.

    News
    Posthumous Gerald Durrell autobiography to be published

  • Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022.

    Biography books
    Character Limit by Kate Conger and Ryan Mac review – Musk’s Twitter takeover

    James Ball
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What to read

  • Haruki Murakami, Cher, Neneh Cherry, Angela Merkel and Alan Hollinghurst Autumn Books

    Autumn books
    From a new Murakami to a memoir by Cher: the best books of the autumn

  • Composite image of best paperbacks February 2024

    Paperbacks
    This month’s best paperbacks: Stephen King, Anne Michaels and more

    • Fantasia Barrino as Celie and Taraji P Henson as Shug Avery in The Color Purple.

      Five of the best
      Five of the best books about female friendship

    • Read on

      100 best novels of all time
      From The Pilgrim's Progress to True History of the Kelly Gang

    • Books of the century so far

      The 100 best books of the 21st century

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Non-fiction reviews

  • Author Sarah Moss sits on a chair in front of a wall of books on shelves.

    Autobiography and memoir
    My Good Bright Wolf: A Memoir by Sarah Moss review – an interrogation of an eating disorder

    Ellen Peirson-Hagger
  • Five babies in nappies - one on its belly, four sitting - against a white background.

    Society books
    Mother State by Helen Charman; What Are Children For? by Anastasia Berg and Rachel Wiseman review – the body political

    Stephanie Merritt
    Two important new books find that the choices – and obstacles – facing mothers and would-be mothers have changed little in the past 50 years
  • Borobodur is arguably the greatest and most philosophically complex Buddhist structure in the world.

    History books
    The Golden Road by William Dalrymple review – the rational case for ancient India’s ingenuity

    Abhrajyoti Chakraborty
    Putting the fantastical claims of Modi’s nationalists aside, the historian convincingly chronicles the many core ideas and innovations that originated in the Indian subcontinent
  • THE SIEGE AT THE IRANIAN EMBASSY, LONDON BRITAIN - 1980<br>A HOSTAGE IS FREED BY THE SAS, WATCHED BY ARMED POLICE THE SIEGE AT THE IRANIAN EMBASSY, LONDON BRITAIN - 1980 BRITISH COUNTER REVOLUTIONARY WARFARE TEAM OF THE SPECIAL AIR SERVICE TERRORIST TERRORISM HOSTAGE RESCUE MISSION.

    History books
    The Siege by Ben Macintyre review – enthralling account of the Iranian embassy hostage crisis

    Andrew Anthony
  • Pamela Churchill<br>1939: British born American socialite Pamela Churchill (right), nee Digby (later Pamela Harriman) with Lady Scott. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

    Biography books
    Kingmaker by Sonia Purnell review – Pamela Churchill Harriman’s astonishing life of seduction and power

    Anthony Quinn
  • James Lovelock at his home in Abbotsbury, Dorset.

    Biography books
    The Many Lives of James Lovelock by Jonathan Watts – man of many myths

    Philip Ball
  • A view shows the clocks of the artwork "L'Heure de tous" (Everybody's Time) by French artist Arman in front of the Saint-Lazare railway station in Paris<br>A view shows the clocks of the artwork "L'Heure de tous" (Everybody's Time) by French artist Arman (Armand Pierre Fernandez) in front of the Saint-Lazare railway station in Paris, France, March 29, 2019. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

    Health, mind and body books
    Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman – time to relax

    Simon Usborne
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Fiction & poetry reviews

  • Author Ruthvika Rao No credit needed- red

    Fiction
    The Fertile Earth by Ruthvika Rao review – illuminating tale of love and morals

    Lucy Popescu
  • FILES-DRCONGO-BELGIUM-HISTORY-POLITICS-INDEPENDANCE<br>(FILES) In this file photo taken on January 27, 1960, leader of the Congolese national Movement, Patrice Lumumba, is welcomed at Brussels airport before attending a conference. - Leader of the Congolese national movement, Patrice Lumumba became the first Prime Minister (1960) of the new state Democatic Republic of the Congo, former Belgian Congo, renammed Zaire in 1971. Arrested in November 1960 and deposed, he was assassinated in January 1961. The daughter of the hero of Congo's independence, Patrice Emery Lumumba, asked the King of the Belgians to return Lumumba's remains to the country, nearly 60 years after the assassination of this "hero without a grave". (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

    Fiction
    Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd review – a spy story to rival Restless

    Alex Preston
    A celebrated travel writer is drawn into a labyrinth of secrets and betrayals by MI6, while battling his childhood trauma, in a masterly tale set in the early 60s
  • Tracy Chevalier- Jonathan Drori 2019 - from publishers.

    Fiction
    The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier review – time-skipping Venetian tour de force

    Hephzibah Anderson
    A bead maker barely ages in 500 years in a subtle novel that wrestles with historic events while showing how much remains unchanged
  • trees

    Science fiction roundup
    The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – reviews roundup

    Lisa Tuttle
  • Michel Houellebecq

    Fiction
    Annihilation by Michel Houellebecq review – the failure of politics

    Sam Byers
  • Underwater view of reef

    Fiction
    Playground by Richard Powers review – the wonder of the oceans

    Xan Brooks
  • Bella Mackie

    Fiction
    What a Way to Go by Bella Mackie review – Succession-style satire

    Jenny Colgan
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Children's and YA books

  • The Dinosaur Next Door, by David Litchfield

    Picture books
    Picture books for children – reviews

    Imogen Carter
  • The Moon Seed by Sally Anne Garland

    Children's book roundup
    Children’s and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels

    Imogen Russell Williams
    A beanstalk murder; the heroines of Greek myth; a history of AI; a mysterious golden island, and more
  • Detail from Molly Knox Ostertag’s The Deep Dark.

    Young adult books
    Young adult books roundup – reviews

    Fiona Noble
    A rich tale of telepathic teens from Moira Buffini, stories of the power of sisterhood and female friendships, and a French exchange trip gone comically wrong
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Interviews

  • Sally Rooney in Merrion Square, Dublin.

    Interview
    Sally Rooney: ‘Falling in love when I was very young transformed my life’

  • Lee Child and Richard Osman.

    Interview
    ‘I wanted to write a suburban Reacher’: Richard Osman talks to Lee Child about class, success and the secret to great crime writing

    The two hugely successful authors who both started in TV discuss writing as a second career, natural justice – and what they really think of literary fiction
  • VIRGINIE DESPENTES

    Interview
    Virginie Despentes: ‘I wasn’t writing Baise-Moi from a very good place’

    The French author of the rape-revenge story on drug addiction, her debt to Charles Bukowski and her new #MeToo book set in publishing
  • Elizabeth Strout

    Interview
    Elizabeth Strout: ‘All ordinary people are extraordinary’

  • Pedro Almodóvar

    Interview
    Pedro Almodóvar: ‘Life needs fiction to make it bearable’

  • Rumaan Alam

    Interview
    Novelist Rumaan Alam: ‘A lot of people have secret money – it can make you crazy with envy’

  • Anne Enright

    The Q&A
    Anne Enright: ‘When I was eight I wanted to be a boy, so that I could be anything I wanted’

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Regulars

  • FRANCE-BRITAIN-LITERATURE-PORTRAIT<br>British author and academic Bernardine Evaristo poses during a photo session at a hotel in Paris on February 13, 2023. (Photo by Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP) (Photo by CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP via Getty Images)

    The books of my life
    Bernardine Evaristo: ‘I’ve gone from being a raging ranter in my 20s to a radical reasoner in my 60s’

  • teaching balloon

    Big idea
    The big idea: how the ‘protege effect’ can help you learn almost anything

    Explaining things to another person – or a rubber duck – can boost your understanding and even bridge political divides
  • James Baldwin.

    Where to start with
    Where to start with: James Baldwin

    The great American author and civil rights activist’s works offered prophetic warnings, generosity of spirit and clarity like no other when it came to race relations
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