While a cast of literary heavyweights grace Laing’s account of her garden restoration, the real joys lie in her detailed description of the pruning and the planting and the soothing effect on her state of mindOlivia Laing’s new book, The Garden Against Time, is as fragrantly replete as a long border at its peak. The word that comes to mind is spumy:...

The lives of two east London teenagers become fatally entwined in an assured debut novel addressing themes of masculinity and marginalisationEver wondered what you’d do if your musical hero got cancelled? This crushing scenario is brought to life in an impressive first novel by Nicolas Padamsee (one of the Observer’s best 2024 debut novelists). A nuanced...

In the bestselling novelist’s latest, Anna Walsh moves back to Dublin and falls for an old flame in a comical tale of grit, growth and self-acceptanceSince she first introduced them to readers in her 1995 debut, Watermelon, Marian Keyes has been drawn repeatedly back to the five Walsh sisters. Having already claimed a novel apiece, now second acts beckon....

The solicitor, campaigner and feminist reflects on her notable cases, from overturning Sally Challen’s murder conviction using the defence of coercive control, to the bid to stop the release of serial rapist John WorboysFeminist Harriet Wistrich had been a solicitor for 20 years, many of them with the noted human rights firm Birnberg Peirce (the Guildford...

The Pulitzer prize-winning New York Times foreign correspondent provides fascinating insights into surviving his job and his 2019 diagnosis with an aggressive form of brain cancer in this inspiring journal of self-discoveryIn the searing heat in Delhi in July 2019, the New York Times foreign correspondent Rod Nordland went for a morning jog across the...

The award-winning Bristol-raised novelist on his new book about a teenage Rastafarian living in the city in volatile times, how he was influenced by The Catcher in the Rye - and being celebrated by a Tory politician Continue reading...