Richard Godwin
Richard Godwin Enjoys a Quarter of Four First Novels
‘What better way to get to know someone than through their choice and treatment of books?’ asks Margaret Lea, the bookish narrator of Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale .
First-time authors usually feel the need to probe for their place in the literary canon; Setterfield has chosen a cosy nook among well-thumbed copies of Jane Eyre, The Woman in White and Wuthering Heights. Her debut is as much about the storytelling itself as it is about secrets and romance.
Margaret leads a spinsterish life in her father’s second-hand bookshop. One day she receives a letter from Vida Winter, the world-famous elderly thriller writer, who has singled her out to write her biography. Margaret travels up to Yorkshire to Winter’s soft-furnished house to hear her life story – a darkly
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Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm