Annie Ernaux and the brutal art of memoir
Ernaux understands that writing honestly about her parents is a form of betrayal – but she does it anyway.
ByBook reviews
Read all the latest book reviews from the New Statesman and discover the best novels, non-fiction, essays and biographies. If you’re looking for something more specific, explore our sections dedicated to politics books and history books.
The Goldsmiths Prize 2022 shortlist: “creative daring” and political activism
In its tenth year, the award for “fiction at its most novel” presents a politically charged shortlist dominated by female…
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The bonfire of the Middle East
Jeremy Bowen’s personal history shows how hopes of peace failed and the region entered a new era of instability.
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The cutting wit of Alan Rickman
In the late actor’s diaries, his merciless verdicts on showbiz idiocy are tempered by a deep loyalty and humanity.
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We can’t consign Boris Johnson to history yet
Andrew Gimson’s biography of the former prime minister describes a man who can pull off a miracle. With the Tories…
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Why “Jerusalem” is the anthem England needs
William Blake’s poem, set to music by Hubert Parry, is viewed by some as patriotic, and others as a progressive…
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Is America worth keeping?
Richard Rorty, the philosopher who predicted Trump, was scathing about the US’s failings but believed in the country’s capacity to…
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Hilary Mantel: “The writer occupies both past and present. She is never absent from the story”
In the novelist’s final published work, she considered the “creative friction” behind her Wolf Hall trilogy.
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Football’s data delusion
A new book by Rory Smith looks at why the English Premier League is still searching for its Moneyball moment.
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The vision of Ralph Vaughan Williams
In reviving local and popular musical traditions, the composer found haunting new expressions of Englishness.
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From Elizabeth Strout to Robert Harris: recent books reviewed in short
Also featuring How To Speak Whale by Tom Mustill and a history of the Nineties by James Brooke-Smith.
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Red love, for all
Family is a terrible way to satisfy our desire for love and care, according to the writer and academic Sophie…
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AN Wilson: the assembly-line intellectual
The writer’s exasperating new memoir offers a full dinner service of clichés and an insight into the glib fogeyism of…
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From Maggie O’Farrell to Sayaka Murata: recent books reviewed in short
Also featuring Sick Note by Gareth Millward and a biography of Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen.
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What Harold Wilson can teach Keir Starmer
A new biography shows how one of Labour’s most successful leaders kept the party united at all costs.
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Fifty years of Richard Mabey’s Food for Free
How the author’s 1972 guide to foraging anticipated today’s appetite for local, seasonal and sustainable eating.
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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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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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