The long shadow of Chairman Mao
How China’s uneven ascent has been driven by debt and the Communist Party’s obsessive pursuit of social stability.
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From Jim Crace to Cosey Fanni Tutti: recent books reviewed in short
Also featuring titles by Lawrence Osborne and Matthew Yeomans.
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Tsitsi Dangarembga: “People started pointing fingers at me, saying ‘She’s a Western puppet!’”
The prize-winning novelist on colonialism, her family, and being tried in Zimbabwe for political protest.
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Thus Bad Begins confirms Javier Marías as a master of the novel form
Marías’ masterful expression of his characters’ psychological weather, combined with Margaret Jull Costa’s gifted translation, makes for rewarding reading.
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Philip Larkin at 100
Writers reflect on the poet’s life, work and legacy, a century after his birth.
Henry Marsh confronts his mortality
As a neurosurgeon, Marsh was comfortable with death. But in his new memoir And Finally, he finds himself on the…
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Ed Smith and the courage of conviction
In his new book, the former England cricket team selector recalls what he has learned about doubt and decisions.
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Agatha Christie’s secret worlds
After her infamous 11-day disappearance in 1926, the author retreated from public view. Lucy Worsley’s new biography claims to solve…
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