GEOFF BOTTOMS relishes a profoundly human portrait of a family as it evolves across 55 years in Sheffield
Best of 2019: Books
COMPELLING: Edward Parnell
PAUL DONOVAN applauds an excellently crafted new musical that explores the life and death of Ruth Ellis
PAUL DONOVAN is tickled by the excruciating take-downs of one of the funniest, wittiest, political writers around.
RON JACOBS points out, via a transcription of Kissinger’s secret recordings, that Trump could never have existed without Nixon and Kissinger
ELLIS RAE is persuaded that the advantages of the ‘talking cure’ are superior to the treatment of mental illness with drugs
JOHN GREEN, MICHAL BONCZA and BELLA KATZ review The Good Boy, Broken English, and Don't Be Prey
THIS year has featured a wave of books dealing with the way human beings are defined by their stories, myths and art and one of the most impressive is The Dollmaker by Nina Allan (riverrun).
A novel of stories within stories, blending traditional literary fiction with fantasy, myth and metafictional games, its framing narrative has Andrew, an accomplished creator of beautiful bespoke dolls, spotting an advert in a trade magazine.
He’s swept into a quest involving a mysterious woman called Bramber and he shares with her an obsession with an eastern European dollmaker and writer of dark fairy tales.
Similar stories
GORDON PARSONS is intrigued by a biography of the Marxist intellectual and author, made from the point of view of his son
ANDY HEDGECOCK relishes an exuberant blend of emotion and analysis that captures the politics and contrarian nature of the French composer
FIONA O'CONNOR recommends a biography that is a beautiful achievement and could stand as a manifesto for the power of subtlety in art
ANDREW HEDGECOCK relishes visual storytelling with no respect for genres, movements or styles