US Edition
This may be the best translation of The Odyssey yet
Daniel Mendelsohn’s rendering of Homer’s text is both highly readable and faithful to the original metre. It’s impressive, thrilling stuff
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The truth about Norway’s drug-infested underbelly
Back in the Day, 21-year-old Oliver Lovrenski’s debut novel, follows a group of teenagers navigating a seedy world of drugs and stabbings
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England was forged by Christianity – but we’re giving it up
Bijan Omrani’s superb book, God is an Englishman, argues that we take our national faith for granted – and that the youth suffer as a result
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Buy your grandchildren this masterful tale of Blitz Britain
In Under a Fire-Red Sky, Geraldine McCaughrean’s thrilling wartime tale, four evacuees run away from their new homes – and back to London
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This passionless novel is for trendy fiction courses, not real people
Katie Kitamura’s new novel, Audition, promisingly tackles identity and love with an extreme plot twist. But the writing is lifeless
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The unsolved case of the Einstein family murder
In The Einstein Vendetta, Thomas Harding surveys the summer that one family were gunned down by Nazis – and the pain that ensued for decades
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Britain, the US and Russia, all friends? Those were the days
Tim Bouverie’s remarkable study, Allies at War, finds extremely timely lessons in the story of the Second World War’s diplomatic relations
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This love letter to William Blake couldn’t be more eccentric
Philip Hoare’s weird and wonderful style soars in this study of the poet and his disciples, William Blake and the Sea Monsters of Love
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Need Shakespeare cut down to size? Ask Michael Rosen
In Pocket Shakespeare, the prolific author and veteran illustrator Chris Riddell lay out the playwright’s greatest hits for young readers
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The little-known rebellion that plunged England into civil war
The Fiery Spirits, by John Rees, argues for the Grand Remonstrance as a moment when the proles took control of the England’s destiny
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It’s another age-gap romance – but watch out for the twist
Rozie Kelly’s shrewd debut novel, Kingfisher, follows an unnamed narrator’s passionate affair with a woman 17 years his senior
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Here’s the truth about Britain’s white working class
In his sensitive book Underdogs, Joe Budd develops a new way of understanding a group that is all too often homogenised and dismissed
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Take a historic trip down the A1 with this brilliant book
In The North Road, Rob Cowen recounts his thrilling journey between Edinburgh and London with a superb blend of memoir, history and fiction
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A shocking tale of abused women in a leading British hospital
William Sargant’s radical psychiatric treatments saw him hailed a pioneer. But he emerges from Jon Stock’s The Sleep Room as a brutal sadist
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Why an English ‘right to roam’ is a bad idea
Patrick Galbraith spent three years investigating the truth about rural Britain and how we treat it. Uncommon Ground is the brilliant result
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An illiterate president, bolshy elites, spiritual chaos – it’s a very American tale
Leif Enger’s I Cheerfully Refuse, which follows one man’s quest to find his wife in a brutal underworld, is eerie but ultimately undercooked
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Did Yoko Ono save the Beatles?
At best overlooked, at worst despised, the Japanese artist emerges in David Sheff’s warm biography Yoko as a fascinating, vulnerable pioneer
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Julia Donaldson abhors unsubtle messages – but this one is timeless
Gozzle, a charming new picture book by the Gruffalo author, follows a reluctant bear and his adopted goose with typical charm and flair
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The story of the woman who had a sexual fetish for aeroplanes
In Kate Folk’s novel, Sky Daddy, Linda wants to marry a plane – and die afterwards. It’s well written, exquisitely funny and deeply weird
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Angry celebrities, ‘unlimited’ expenses – life at Vanity Fair in the 1990s
In his memoir, When the Going was Good, former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter takes a fun, anecdote-filled ride through his ‘golden’ era
