Sam Sheldon
One Day in Paris
Nick Newman, the narrator of Jude Cook’s Jacob’s Advice, is a man at sea: an expat living in Paris, he fears he may never see his ex-wife and child again, is struggling to make progress with his book on the history of France from 1789 to the present day, and is adjusting to living with chronic peripheral neuropathy after suffering an adverse reaction to an antibiotic. Adding to his sense of dislocation is his cousin Larry’s insistence that they are both Jewish, based only on a shared Austrian grandmother and Larry’s lifelong love of Bob Dylan, Woody Allen and Saul Bellow. The questing Larry has turned these tenuous connections into an exploration of identity and inheritance for both men.
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'Thirkell was a product of her time and her class. For her there are no sacred cows, barring those that win ribbons at the Barchester Agricultural.'
The novelist Angela Thirkell is due a revival, says Patricia T O'Conner (£).
https://literaryreview.co.uk/good-gad
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https://literaryreview.co.uk/the-spy-who-taught-me
In this month's Bookends, @AdamCSDouglas looks at the curious life of Henry Labouchere: a friend of Bram Stoker, 'loose cannon', and architect of the law that outlawed homosexual activity in Britain.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/a-gross-indecency