Novel of the week: The Pages by Hugo Hamilton theweek.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theweek.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Sir: Boyd Tonkin’s review of Anna Aslanyan’s
Dancing on Ropes highlights the post-war abandonment of local Afghan and Iraqi interpreters by the US and UK (Books, 17 July). The UK’s response, up until last summer, deserved every bit of Tonkin’s strictures but the past year has seen a ‘strategic shift’. Ben Wallace and Priti Patel were clearly determined to change our approach and to give sanctuary to our former staff. More generous regulations were introduced in December and April but the imminent withdrawal of Nato forces now raises the fearful prospect of a Taleban takeover, or Taleban-induced paralysis of the Afghan government, before the necessary evacuation can take place.
These three novels – from Georgia, Poland and Romania - reflect a range of languages, cultures and styles and tell us stories about lived experiences in the past and present. Read what Toby Lichtig and his fellow judges Ana Aslanyan, Julian Evans and Kirsty Lang have written about these three shortlisted novels for the EBRD Literature Prize 2021.
The Pear Field
Toby Lichtig (Chair of Judges): In an isolated “residential school for the intellectually disabled” on the outskirts of Tbilisi, a group of children – from the very young to the almost adult – traverse a world of abandonment, neglect and abuse. Looking out for one another, while remaining acutely alert to the necessity of individual self-preservation, they run riot, fantasize, scrap and play, while attempting to negotiate the callous adult world. Narrated in a clear, fluid prose – brilliantly captured by Elizabeth Heighway – Nana Ekvtimishvili’s novel is vicious, funny, totally enchanting and te
Booth, Nash Ensemble, Wigmore Hall online review - contemporary music programme lacks diversity | reviews, news & interviews Booth, Nash Ensemble, Wigmore Hall online review - contemporary music programme lacks diversity
Booth, Nash Ensemble, Wigmore Hall online review - contemporary music programme lacks diversity
Excellent playing and singing can’t disguise the absence of variety
by Bernard HughesWednesday, 28 April 2021
The Nash Ensemble with soprano Claire Booth
Wigmore Hall does not dish up a great deal of contemporary music, preferring a menu of mainstream chamber music.
Wigmore Hall does not dish up a great deal of contemporary music, preferring a menu of mainstream chamber music. But this programme by the Nash Ensemble offered a different kind of mainstream: within the world of contemporary music this was a middle-of-the-road offering. A roster of composers including Harrison Birtwistle, Simon Holt and Mark-Antony Turnage, all at one time