PSYCHOLOGY THIS TOO SHALL PASS by Julia Samuel (Penguin £14.99, 352 pp) Nearly 15 years of writing an advice column (on top of many more years as a journalist specialising in the sorrow, struggle and pity of human life) have taught me the truth of ancient wisdom. There is nothing new under the sun — … Read more
Two ears are better than one mouth! Author reveals how improving your ‘active listening’ skills can help to reconnect with those closest to us Kate Murphy shares advice for improving your listening skills in a new book American author says we’re encouraged to listen to our guts but rarely to others Research shows an epidemic … Read more
THE ARTS QUESTORS, JESTERS AND RENEGADES by Michael Coveney (Bloomsbury £25, 216pp) Michael Coveney says, in a statistic that stretches credulity, that there are 2,500 amateur dramatic societies in Britain, putting on 35,000 productions a year in disused cinemas, chapels, barns and converted Nissen huts. The most spectacular venue is the Minack in Cornwall, carved … Read more
THRILLERS By Geoffrey Wansell for the Daily Mail Published: 22:02 BST, 5 March 2020 | Updated: 23:16 BST, 5 March 2020 THE RECOVERY OF ROSE GOLD by Stephanie Wrobel ( Michael Joseph £14.99, 352 pp ) THE RECOVERY OF ROSE GOLD by Stephanie Wrobel (Michael Joseph £14.99, 352 pp) This chilling thriller tells a haunting … Read more
BOOK OF THE WEEK WHEN TIME STOPPED: A MEMOIR OF MY FATHER’S WAR by Ariana Neumann (Scribner £16.99, 368pp) In the opening pages of this beautifully written, heart-wrenching memoir of love and family and war is a detailed family tree of the author’s Czech heritage. It seems dauntingly complex as family trees often do, littered … Read more
Richard Layard, an economist, has written a study into how society can be happier. He has long promoted happiness as a better measure of society’s progress than GDP.
MEMOIR ROOTBOUND: REWILDING A LIFE by Alice Vincent (Canongate, £14.99, 368pp) How do you mend a broken heart? The dumped often find solace in getting drunk, gorging on ice cream or stalking their ex on Facebook. For journalist Alice Vincent, salvation came in the form of a tiny balcony. When this memoir begins, she is … Read more
MEMOIR MY PAST IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY by Zeba Talkhani (Sceptre £9.99, 200pp) Zeba Talkhani’s mother was preparing for one of her many extravagant dinner parties when her daughter heard a scream. ‘Mama’ had caught her hand in the blender. Blood spattered everywhere. She was taken to bed, where her body began to convulse. Zeba … Read more
BOOK OF THE WEEK EILEEN: THE MAKING OF GEORGE ORWELL by Sylvia Topp (Unbound £20, 560 pp) Back in 1934, a poem appeared in the Sunderland Church High School magazine, written by one of its alumnae, Eileen Maud O’Shaugnessy. Its title? End Of The Century, 1984. The poem foresaw a bleak near-future in which scholars, … Read more
QUICK READS By Sally Morris for the Daily Mail Published: 22:02 BST, 20 February 2020 | Updated: 00:18 BST, 21 February 2020 We’re all rushed for time these days, but even so, the fact that one in three people in the UK doesn’t regularly read for pleasure is a shock. And research shows that one … Read more