MAYER WAKEFIELD applauds Rosamund Pike’s punchy and tragic portrayal of a multi-tasking mother and high court judge
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Space Dogs: The Story of the Celebrated Canine Cosmonauts
Fascinating account of the Soviet dogs who conquered space
A 1960’s wood-mounted clock/barometer, a desk calendar from 1957 with rotary dial for changing the days and months, and commemoratory plate
FIONA O CONNOR recommends an unflinching depiction of child sexual abuse and its aftershocks, set in a working-class Liverpool family
New releases from Paul Weller, Wet Leg, and Dino Saluzzi
PAUL DONOVAN relishes the spectacle of a 1950s detective in pursuit of a 500-year-old murder mystery
MARIA DUARTE recommends the intricate study of a high-performance and highly dysfuntional German family
GUILLERMO THOMAS is intrigued by a history of the Middle East that demonstrates how promising post colonial beginnings were snuffed out by Western imperialist interests
UNLIKE the US space-flight pioneers — monkeys who couldn’t handle the pressure and were nervous wrecks on their return — Soviet scientists found that Moscow’s stray dogs were far more amenable and relaxed about the whole extra-planetary experience.
Street-wise ruffians, they displayed intelligence, enterprise and solidarity. Each candidate was observed for weeks before snatch squads stepped in and scooped them up and then they were put through rigorous training.
More from this author
Strip cartoons used to be the bread and butter of newspapers and they have been around for centuries. MICHAL BONCZA asks our own Paul Tanner about which bees are in his bonnet
New releases from Hannah Rose Platt, Kemp Harris, and Spear Of Destiny
MICHAL BONCZA recommends a compact volume that charts the art of propagating ideas across the 20th century
