Ben Masters
The Long & Winding Road
Lennon/McCartney, Jagger/Richards and Holland/Dozier/Holland are some of the most recognisable writing credits in popular music lore. Holloway/de Zoet/Moss, the songwriting combo behind fictional 1960s rock-folk-blues band Utopia Avenue, will be less familiar to readers. Each chapter of David Mitchell’s superb eighth novel, the account of Utopia Avenue’s rise and fall, is presented like a track on an LP, with the songwriter’s name appended in parentheses after the title – first a Moss track, then a Holloway number, then one by de Zoet, and so on. Together they amount to some of Mitchell’s finest material.
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
'Like many works that touch on Churchill, this book takes on some of his characteristics: a jaunty prose style, a capacity for confident generalisation and a whiff of bullshit.'
Richard Vinen is unpersuaded by 'The Churchill Myths'.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/blood-toil-tears-brexit
'It’s history from a bird’s-eye view. From that perspective, we humans are a passing phenomenon.'
Nigel Andrew on three contrasting books about birds by @RSmythFreelance, @JenGAckerman & @JonathanSlaght.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/thirteen-ways-of-looking-at-a-gyrfalcon
Sign up to our e-newsletter and get highlights from the new issue and gems from the archive, as well as exclusive competitions and subscription offers straight to your inbox.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/freenewsletter