NATURE DIARY OF A YOUNG NATURALIST by Dara McAnulty (Little Toller £16.99, 224pp) Dara McAnulty is a brilliant young teenage naturalist from Northern Ireland who writes a popular blog about his sightings and adventures, and has also appeared on BBC’s Countryfile. He’s on the autistic spectrum, and doesn’t so much coolly observe nature as passionately … Read more
LIFESTYLE RHUBARB RHUBARB by Mary Jane Paterson and Jo Thompson (Unbound £20, 160pp) Cooking and gardening often go hand in hand — just think of Mary Berry, Nigel Slater and Jamie Oliver, all dedicated gardeners as well as outstanding cooks. Rhubarb Rhubarb is written by two women who prove the exception to that rule. Mary … Read more
Author who discovered his ancestors were slave owners in Jamaica after finding a box of centuries-old papers pens fascinating tome charting the history of their rum business which made the family rich Richard Atkinson uncovers the history of his ancestors in a new history book He was inspired after discovering a box revealing his family … Read more
TEENAGE By Sally Morris for the Daily Mail Published: 22:04 BST, 28 May 2020 | Updated: 22:04 BST, 28 May 2020 AGAIN AGAIN by E. Lockhart (Hot Key £7.99 320 pp) AGAIN AGAIN by E. Lockhart (Hot Key £7.99 320 pp) Emily Lockhart captures the complexity of teenage life in richly layered and sometimes darkly … Read more
The Kennedy Curse James Patterson and Cynthia Fagen Century £16.99 Rating: In America, this book was given the stately title The House Of Kennedy. Its UK publishers have gone for something more Hammer Horror, adding the words ‘Six Generations Of Adultery, Addiction And Tragedy’ on to the cover for good measure, to ensure no bookseller … Read more
Native: Life In A Vanishing Landscape Patrick Laurie Birlinn £14.99 … Read more
From Simon Armitage’s The Poet Laureate Has Gone To His Shed to Lockdown Parenting Hell and Miriam And Youssef, this week’s top podcasts By Leaf Arbuthnot Published: 22:01 BST, 23 May 2020 | Updated: 22:01 BST, 23 May 2020 The Poet Laureate Has Gone To His Shed Simon Armitage, the nation’s bard, is spending lockdown … Read more
What’s The Matter With Tony Slattery? Thursday, BBC2 Rating: The Big Flower Fight Netflix Rating: This week a new Netflix show that mercilessly plunders the Bake Off/Sewing Bee format, and a documentary on the comedian Tony Slattery, who was ubiquitous in the late 1980s and early 1990s before suddenly disappearing from view. And while I’m … Read more
From Jenny Colgan’s latest to Writers & Lovers by Lily King, a mystery by Susie Steiner and Shubhangi Swarup’s debut, this week’s best new fiction By Madeleine Feeny and Hephzibah Anderson and John Williams and Max Davidson Published: 22:01 BST, 23 May 2020 | Updated: 22:01 BST, 23 May 2020 Five Hundred Miles From You … Read more
MONDAY, MAY 11 ‘Shall I cut your hair?’ asked Celia, eyeing my increasingly overgrown lockdown locks. ‘Have you ever done it before?’ I replied nervously. Piers Morgan put his faith in wife Celia Walden by reluctantly agreeing to let her cut his hair as they self-quarantine at their London home ‘No, but I’ve watched a … Read more