Extract

I It was one of those surprising fine late afternoons in December that often follow upon many sad days of wind and rain and fog in Newchester. The winter sun had shone all day and […]

“Lucas,” she said, crossing the lawn and sitting down on the grass beside him, “they will never forgive us for this.” He was smoking a cigarette, the other hand gripping his wrist around his bent […]

First published sixty years ago, Sunlight on a Broken Column is an unforgettable coming-of-age story set against the tumultuous background of Partition. Laila, orphaned daughter of a distinguished Muslim family, is brought up in her grandfather’s traditional […]

Palmares hails the return of a major voice in literature – ‘the best American novelist whose name you may not know’ (Atlantic). Gayl Jones was first discovered and edited by Toni Morrison, and her talent was […]

  1   My mother was six months’ dead when I opened the trunk I found under her bed. I opened the trunk on the same day her headstone was laid. Rose, my daughter, accompanied […]

Reenmore The first impression of Great-Aunt Dymphna was that she was more like an enormous bird than a great- aunt. This was partly because she wore a black cape, which seemed to flap behind her […]

INTRODUCTION   ‘The world of books: romantic, idle, shiftless world so beautiful, so cheap compared with living’ – NANCY SPAIN   I never met Nancy Spain, and I’ve been worrying that we might not have […]

Return to Gilead one more time. In this fourth and final novel in Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead series we learn more about Jack Boughton – the loved and grieved-over prodigal son. Set before Gilead, Home and Lila, just after World […]

Long afterwards, when Ruth looked back, searching for an untroubled time – before she lost her footing and the family tilted out of control – she settled on the memory of her birthday lunch, ten […]

The 18th March marks Global Recycling Day, a day for us to reflect on the climate emergency and consider what we can do to live in a more ethical and ecological way.   According to Global […]

Who was the all-time top goal scorer in the 2019 World Cup? Who but the quicksilver forward of the Brazilian women’s football team, Marta Vieira da Silva? When I was a girl, we never played […]

NEW YORK CITY Winter solstice, 21 December 1932 16.45 Her initial shock at the height had faded, but if Frances moved close to the edge, if she tipped her head over the waist-height balustrade, the […]