John Keats is perhaps the least manly of the great English poets. And the great English poets are not, it will be recalled, an aggressively macho bunch. A strange aspect of Lucasta Miller’s new book
Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth by Wole Soyinka (Bloomsbury)
The Nobel laureate’s first novel in almost 50 years promises “murder, mayhem and no shortage of drama” in contemporary Nigeria.
The Thursday Murder Club 2 by Richard Osman (Viking)
Last year the
Pointless co-host’s cosy crime debut set in a retirement home broke sales records; here comes the sequel.
Waters of Salvation by Richard Coles (W&N)
A new crime series from everyone’s favourite vicar begins as a proposal to refurbish a village church ends in murder; Canon Daniel Clement must investigate.
Oh, William! by Elizabeth Strout (Viking)
by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan (HarperCollins, January)
the volatile Irish-born English painter Francis Bacon (1909-1992) was thrown out of the family home in his early 20s for wearing his mother’s underwear. ‘The divine demon of British art’, as he became known, was obsessed with chronicling the ‘brutality’ of human flesh. His work tackled war, faith and his discomfort with his homosexuality. Drawing on extensive new material, Stevens and Swan argue that Bacon’s talent is more varied than has been acknowledged and that ‘the 20th century does not know itself without him’.
Helen Brown reveals a selection of the best non-fiction books to start the year. Pictured: Abbie Cornish as Fanny Brawne and Ben Whishaw as John Keats
Empireland by Sathnam Sanghera / Viking
Several authors tackle colonialism in very different ways, from
Alex Renton confronting his own family’s involvement in slavery in
Blood Legacy: Reckoning with a Family’s Enslaving Past (Canongate), and
Sathnam Sanghera in
Kehinde Andrews, who rather more controversially takes on capitalism and racism together in
The New Age of Empire: How Racism and Colonialism Still Rule the World (Allen Lane).
Gender and Identity Politics
Likewise gender and identity politics get a good look-in, from
Julie Bindel’s manifesto,
Feminism for Women (Constable) to
You Are Not the Man You Are Supposed To Be: Into The Chaos of Modern Masculinity (Bloomsbury) by founder of the Book of Man website