Award comes during booming year for nature books, with sales over the last two months reaching £2.8mJames Rebanks’s story of his family’s farm in the Cumbrian Fells, English Pastoral, has won the Wainwright nature writing prize, praised as a “seminal w…
The best recent thrillers – review roundup
This month’s crop of crime and suspense fiction includes an engaging tale of government secrets by Robert Peston and a nail-biting new series from Val McDermidZaffre, £14.99, pp400 Continue reading…
Werner Herzog to tell story of Japanese soldier who refused to surrender
The German film director has announced two new books: a memoir and The Twilight World, about a remarkable second world war officerWerner Herzog is writing a book about Hiroo Onoda, the Japanese soldier who took three decades to surrender after the end …
Ancient Gilgamesh tablet seized from Hobby Lobby by US authorities
The craft store had acquired the 3,600-year-old artefact for its Bible museum, but court says it had been smuggled and should be returned to IraqA rare and ancient tablet showing part of the epic of Gilgamesh, which had been acquired by Christian arts …