Pulling back my narrow shoulders, I clung to the handlebars of my little red bike as I watched the other children being hugged and kissed by their mothers. I felt a ­familiar hollowness in my chest. It was my first day at school, and while every other child in my …...Read More

BOOK OF THE WEEK THE SPARTANS by Andrew J Bayliss (OUP £10.99, 184 pp) The 2006 big box-office hit 300 memorably portrays the Spartans as muscular beardies in short red cloaks and skimpy black Speedos, with Gerard Butler kicking foreign ambassadors down a well while shouting: ‘This is Sparta!’ Now …...Read More

NATURE PLANTING FOR BUTTERFLIES by Jane Moore (Hardie Grant £12, 144 pp) Butterflies have poor eyesight, they can taste only with their feet and they have a lifespan of just a few weeks. Yet, during their brief existence, they provide one of the most joyful sights of summer as they …...Read More

BIOGRAPHY JAMES AND NORA by Edna O’Brien (Weidenfeld £6.99, 80 pp) This delectable miniature, elegantly reissued, is a perfect match of author and subject. It’s one lushly literary Irish writer on another, and the result is an enthralling sort of prose poem about lust, jealousy, obsession and exile. Edna O’Brien …...Read More

MEMOIR I AM AN ISLAND by Tamsin Calidas (Doubleday £16.99, 304 pp) In lockdown, it seems our most difficult feelings have been given space to sink deeper than ever before. But we’ve also learned to cherish the small and simple things we once took for granted: the morning’s birdsong and …...Read More

. . . are you reading now? I have just finished Lord (Michael) Ashcroft’s astonishing expose of South Africa’s canned hunting industry, Unfair Game. After reading of the systematic abuse inflicted on the lion, one of nature’s wonders and the staple of the hunting industry, I felt sick and disgusted. …...Read More

MALORIE by Josh Malerman n (Orion £16.99, 320 pp) MALORIE by Josh Malerman n(Orion £16.99, 320 pp) In this brilliant, insanely compelling sequel to Bird Box, the world is still infested with monsters so incomprehensible that one glimpse sends you mad. You survive by going blind, by listening and, if …...Read More

ALL ADULTS HERE by Emma Straub (Michael Joseph £14.99, 352 pp) ALL ADULTS HERE by Emma Straub (Michael Joseph £14.99, 352 pp) Inner lives, family dynamics and sexuality in suburban modern America. Buttoned-up granny Astrid witnesses an accidental death and, realising the random nature of events, decides to seize the …...Read More

A biography of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex dubbed by Palace insiders 'the gospel according to Harry and Meghan' is set to plunge relations with the Royal Family to a new low. Sources believe the 'resentful' couple will use the book – extracts from which will be seen for …...Read More

Advertisement Coronavirus cases in the United States has now surpassed a staggering 4 million cases and is on track to record an addition one million in just two weeks - as more than 1,100 deaths are recorded in a day and reach levels not seen in two months. The 4 …...Read More