Selina Hastings
Strange Kinds of Love
Fathers and Sons: The Autobiography of a Family
By Alexander Waugh
Headline 472pp £20 order from our bookshop
It was the death of Auberon (‘Bron’) Waugh nearly three years ago that led his son Alexander to investigate the relationships between fathers and sons over five generations of his family. Alexander loved and admired his father, with whom he enjoyed an eccentric but far happier relationship than Bron did with Evelyn Waugh, or Evelyn with his father, Arthur, or indeed Arthur with his father, Alexander Waugh, ominously known as ‘the Brute’. The result of these filial researches is a remarkable work of family history, exceptional for its honesty, intuitiveness, humour, and for the beguiling individuality of its author’s voice.
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'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
'Only in Britain, perhaps, could spy chiefs – conventionally viewed as masters of subterfuge – be so highly regarded as ethical guides.'
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