Justin Marozzi
Tyranny of Trifles
Stranger to History: A Son’s Journey through Islamic Lands
By Aatish Taseer
Canongate 324pp £14.99 order from our bookshop
A message to married men having extra-marital affairs: beware of fathering a child with your mistress and then abandoning them. One day said child may discover literary inclinations and write a book that you may find humiliating in the extreme. Never mind the old adage. Stranger to History is a case of hell hath no fury like filial scorn.
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