The renowned editor wittily explores the appeal of the actor, whose ability to charm and mystify mesmerised admirers – until her abrupt retirement in the age of the ‘bombshell’In more innocent or credulous days, the faithful sat in the dark to gaze at …
Magritte: A Life by Alex Danchev review – a man of mystery
This insightful biography of the surrealist painter contends that to his peers he was a hero and outsider who resisted symbolic readings of his artUnlike his surrealist contemporaries, René Magritte tended to keep Freud at a distance from his work – th…
Paul Auster: ‘It’s distress that generates art’
The novelist on his latest work, an 800-page tribute to the American author Stephen Crane, and why the greatest writers are monomaniacsPaul Auster is in bed. We’re speaking on the telephone and it’s in his bedroom that his reception is best. “I much pr…
Bernardine Evaristo on a childhood shaped by racism: ‘I was never going to give up’
My creativity can be traced back to my heritage, to the skin colour that defined how I was perceived. But, like my ancestors, I wouldn’t accept defeatWhen I won the Booker prize in 2019 for my novel Girl, Woman, Other, I became an “overnight success”, …
This Much Is True by Miriam Margolyes review – a wickedly honest memoir
With her naughty stories and cutting remarks, the comic actor spares no blushes – but her account is poignant tooI’m quite sure you picked up this book hoping I’d make you laugh,” Miriam Margolyes writes in her memoir, This Much Is True. She more than …
Miss Dior by Justine Picardie review – fashion meets the French Resistance
Christian Dior’s younger sister is a largely ghostly presence in this nonetheless enjoyable book about the courageous Nazi-fighting florist Postwar Europe is eternally fascinating: the sheer disjunction between past and present. “I will not disguise th…
Legends of the fall: the 50 biggest books of autumn 2021
From new novels by Sally Rooney and Colson Whitehead to Michel Barnier’s take on Brexit, Bernardine Evaristo’s manifesto and diaries from David Sedaris – all the releases to look out for Continue reading…
Strangers on a Pier by Tash Aw review – memories of a Malaysian outsider
Aw’s memoir subtly laments the gulf between him and his parents, the present and the pastThe novelist Tash Aw was 15 when he noticed the difference. He knew that his classmates at school weren’t all ethnically Chinese like him. There were Tamil kids wh…
The Reckoning by Mary L Trump review – how to heal America’s trauma
A revealing blend of family lore, history, policy and anger casts light on the background and legacy of Donald TrumpLast year, Mary Trump delivered a salacious and venomous takedown of her uncle, Donald J Trump. Too Much and Never Enough doubled as awe…
Speak, Silence by Carole Angier review – a remarkable biography
The first major study of revered author and academic WG Sebald reveals an obsessive and brilliant mindWG Sebald’s mother Rosa once said that her son had been born without a skin, so that he was unable to protect himself from being overwhelmed by the su…