Not only is his new movie a hit but his marriage to Soon-Yi, 35 years his junior, has endured 21 years defying all predictions. In a rare interview, the film legend says in typical deadpan style: I got lucky From the quiet study of his Manhattan home, Woody Allen is absorbing the news that his … Read more
HISTORY Coffeeland : A History By Augustine Sedgewick (Allen Lane £25, 448 pp) Have you ever scanned the blizzard of drinks on offer at your nearest Costa and thought, ‘I just want a cup of coffee’? If so, then maybe this book — more than 350 pages of dense political history of the erogenous little … Read more
MEMOIR The See -Through House By Shelley Klein (Chatto £16.99, 288pp) From the outside it might not look like much: one of those weird, modern, flat-roofed, single-storey, ‘architect-designed’ houses with plate-glass windows. But for Shelley Klein and her father Bernat Klein, High Sunderland in the Scottish Borders meant everything. In this remarkable, moving tribute to … Read more
Bomber like a startled stallion: How the Lancaster was more than just an aircraft and stood for ‘a symbol of British freedom’ and ‘a monument to those who gave their lives in the war’ John Nichol describes visiting RAF Museum, Hendon, in company of Ron Needle Ron Needle, 93, was a former rear gunner in … Read more
FANTASY AND SCI-FI By Jamie Buxton For The Daily Mail Published: 22:05 BST, 21 May 2020 | Updated: 20:36 BST, 22 May 2020 The Book of Koli By M.R. Carey (Orbit £17.49 hardback; £6.99 paperback) The Book of Koli By M.R. Carey (Orbit £17.49 hardback; £6.99 paperback) It’s grim up north in Koli’s post-apocalyptic world. … Read more
BOOK OF THE WEEK Hold On Edna! By Aneira Thomas (Mirror Books £12.99, 304pp) Three minutes before midnight on the night of July 4, 1948, a doctor stood over the hospital bed of Edna May Rees as she prepared to deliver her seventh child. Her contractions had built steadily over the Welsh summer evening and … Read more
When the weather starts to sizzle chilling reds can be such a cooling, enriching experience that we should be celebrating far more often By Olly Smith Event for The Mail on Sunday Published: 11:28 BST, 22 May 2020 | Updated: 13:35 BST, 22 May 2020 Chilling reds is common on the continent and when the … Read more
WHAT BOOK would children’s author David McKee take to a desert island? David McKee is currently reading The Big Art Book by Phaidon or a biography He said he would probably take Tolkien’s Lord Of The Rings on a desert island Children’s author said he didn’t have many books growing up by had storytellers By Daily … Read more
RETRO READS By Val Hennessy for the Daily Mail Published: 22:06 BST, 21 May 2020 | Updated: 22:06 BST, 21 May 2020 CIRCLE OF FRIENDS by Maeve Binchy (Arrow £8.99, 736 pp) CIRCLE OF FRIENDS By Maeve Binchy (Arrow £8.99, 736 pp) If any author can help you survive lockdown, it’s Binchy. Reading her whopping … Read more
CLASSIC CRIME By Barry Turner for the Daily Mail Published: 22:05 BST, 21 May 2020 | Updated: 22:05 BST, 21 May 2020 VENETIAN GOTHIC By Philip Gwynne Jones (Constable £8.99, 368 pp) CLASSIC CRIME VENETIAN GOTHIC By Philip Gwynne Jones (Constable £8.99, 368 pp) Nathan Sutherland brings a whole new meaning to diplomacy. As British … Read more