To rescue Kahlo from the clutches of the corporate art market, we need to acknowledge the overt and covert political dimensions of the work, demands GAVIN O’TOOLE
The Tin God
by Chris Nickson
(Severn House Publishers, £20.99)
THE FIRST petition to Parliament asking for votes for women was presented to the House of Commons on behalf of a Mary Smith from Leeds in August 1832.
That fact gives a pertinent context to this novel, in which Annabelle Harper is one of seven women seeking election as a Poor Law Guardian in 1897, a position that then decided how much relief someone should get or whether they had to go to the workhouse.
ALAN MORRISON recommends a consummate, heart-warming collection about a working-class upbringing in the industrial north-east
SIMON PARSONS applauds an artist who rescues and rehumanises stories of women, the victims of violence, from a feminist perspective
The book feels like a writer working within his limits and not breaking any new ground, believes KEN COCKBURN


