The Luminaries Sunday & Monday, BBC1 Rating: Talking Heads Tuesday & Thursday, BBC1 Rating: The Luminaries is an adaptation of Eleanor Catton’s Man Booker prize-winning novel, set in New Zealand during the gold rush, and told here with so many time jumps, so frequently, that all your focus was on when something was happening rather … Read more
Sip great summery scented wines for under ten quid: It turns out, pouring something great value in the here and now is far more satisfying By Olly Smith Event for The Mail on Sunday Published: 22:00 BST, 25 June 2020 | Updated: 18:08 BST, 26 June 2020 June 24 1981 is probably a date that … Read more
MEMOIR THE BOY WITH TWO HEARTS by Hamed Amiri (Icon £16.99, 288pp) In 2001, when Hamed Amiri was ten years old, his mother made a speech declaring that women ‘have the same rights as men’. In Taliban-ruled Herat, Afghanistan, this was a radical statement, and a dangerous one: that night, the Mullah called for her … Read more
BOOK OF THE WEEK THE WELL-GARDENED MIND by Sue Stuart-Smith (William Collins £20, 352pp) Back in 1915 Alexander Douglas Gillespie, an officer with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, wrote a letter home from the battlefields of Northern France. He told how ‘a big shell suddenly swooped down from nowhere into the trench, killing five and … Read more
Julian Rota who spends his spare time volunteering at Trindledown Farm in Berkshire, has penned a memoir about his experiences. He reveals it’s rewarding to gain the animals trust.
HISTORY THE HISTORY OF MAGIC by Chris Gosden (Viking £25, 512pp) The 2011 Census revealed that 56,620 of us said we were pagans, 11,766 described themselves as Wiccans and 1,276 people confessed they were signed up to witchcraft. Twenty-seven per cent of the British population also maintained that ‘communication with the dead is possible’. Some … Read more
WHAT BOOK would fashion guru and writer Susannah Constantine take to a desert island? Susannah Constantine is currently reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara She would take WinterDance by Gary Paulsen to a desert island British fashion guru revealed The Grapes Of Wrath left her cold By Daily Mail Reporter Published: 22:01 BST, 25 … Read more
POPULAR FICTION By Wendy Holden for the Daily Mail Published: 22:02 BST, 25 June 2020 | Updated: 22:02 BST, 25 June 2020 THE FAMILY HOLIDAY by Elizabeth Noble (Michael Joseph £7.99, 432pp) THE FAMILY HOLIDAY by Elizabeth Noble (Michael Joseph £7.99, 432pp) Charlie Chamberlain wants to mark his 80th birthday in style. He hires a … Read more
Bob Dylan’s first self-written album since 2012, Rough And Rowdy Ways may be energetically crafted and elegantly played but it lacks originality By Tim De Lisle for Event Magazine Published: 22:01 BST, 20 June 2020 | Updated: 22:01 BST, 20 June 2020 Bob Dylan … Read more
From Karin Slaughter’s gripping latest to The Lightness by Emily Temple, Jean-Baptiste Andrea’s latest and a fierce story by Elizabeth Wetmore, this week’s best new fiction By John Williams and Anthony Gardner and Hephzibah Anderson and Madeleine Feeny Published: 22:01 BST, 20 June 2020 | Updated: 22:01 BST, 20 June 2020 The Silent Wife Karin … Read more