Scales of Gold (the House of Niccolo): v. 4 by Dunnett, Dorothy at AbeBooks.co.uk - ISBN 10: 0718132084 - ISBN 13: 9780718132088 - Michael Joseph - 1991 - Hardcover
, longlisted for the International Booker, has a disabled child at its centre and squares up to dangerous subjects. It is a heartening novel, because though it asks the reader to think hard, it puts its faith in simplicity and love. Neurologist Suzanne OâSullivan offers
The Sleeping Beauties: And Other Stories of Mystery Illness to put you wise about Havana syndrome and other puzzles: itâs not cheerful, but it is current and it is bracing.
David Nicholls
Something new: I very much enjoyed Meg Masonâs witty, affecting
Sorrow and Bliss. Something old: I love John Cheeverâs stories and am curious to know which have made it into Julian Barnesâs new selection,
Seven Men by Max Beerbohm (1919)
When Walter Benjamin said that “all great works of literature either dissolve a genre or invent one”, he might have been referring to this, the most unclassifiable book ever written. Five biographical stories about six fame-hungry men from the literary world of the fin-desiècle; the seventh is Beerbohm himself, who wanders among his fantastical creations.
The Ballad of Peckham Rye by Muriel Spark (1960)
The devil, in the form of a Scottish charmer called Dougal Douglas, comes to Peckham Rye, where he wreaks havoc on the love lives of the locals. All of Muriel Spark’s novels operate like small bombs, but this is her wittiest, most off-beat, and utterly startling.
The row over a new biography of Philip Roth has exposed the way agents and estates restrict access and manage archives to maintain a writer’s posthumous good name