I Married You for Happiness by Lily Tuck – review
An elegant novel about the anatomy of a marriage dwells more on art – and maths – than emotionThis novel is an elegant vigil – a long night's journey into day. A wife, Nina, sits with her husband, Philip, who has died of a heart attack. She waits...
Swallows and Amazons – review
Vaudeville, London When Tom Morris's production sailed into view in 2010 at Bristol Old Vic, Susannah Clapp recognised it as "exact and imaginative" and a "triumph". Right from the start, in this West End incarnation, it is evident that its inspiring s...
The Road from Herat by Clare Holtham – review
This fine volume documents the life of an abandoned child who became a bus conductor, Cambridge bluestocking, Uzbek chieftain's wife… and skilled poetThis is not an ordinary collection of poetry. It is Clare Holtham's first and final book – she die...
Picture books for children – reviews
There are laughs aplenty and some touching moments too in this year's crop of picture books at ChristmasThere are two Christmas picture books this year that take a gentle stand against a materialistic Yule. It might be an idea to get hold of them befor...
The Story of Swimming by Susie Parr | review
A cultural history of wild swimming, with glorious illustrations, is an object of delightThe sea is a great entertainer but changeable – an unreliable host. In this magnificent book about outdoor swimming – part cultural history, part journal – S...
Bertie Carvel: ‘The Trunch needs to be a tyrant over five-year-olds’
Why Bertie Carvel loves playing the bullying headmistress in the musical of Roald Dahl's MatildaWhat could be more alarming than a private audience with Miss Trunchbull, the headmistress in Roald Dahl's Matilda? I have seen her on stage with her coloss...
A brush with comic genius
Noel Fielding has gone from cult figure with the Mighty Boosh to sell-out shows at the O2 and Wembley. An imaginative, unruly comic force, he has now turned his attention to his first love - artWhen I tell people I am interviewing Noel Fielding, reacti...
The Bees by Carol Ann Duffy – review
Poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy's latest collection has touching moments but lacks energyIn Carol Ann Duffy's new collection, bees represent virtue. They pop up, hither and thither, like good fairies. The book has a honeycomb structure. But it becomes ap...
Wallis: My War by Kate Auspitz – review
Wallis Simpson's memoir as imagined by a top American historian is stronger on fact than fictionMrs Wallis Simpson is everywhere. Writers, playwrights and film-makers are in hot pursuit. She is encountered on a golf course in the Oscar-winning The King...
Memorial by Alice Oswald – review
The lives of 200 soldiers are brilliantly remembered in this majestic poetic reworking of Homer's IliadAlice Oswald made her name with a book-length poem: Dart. A tribute to the Devon river made up of her own and other people's voices, it won the 2002 ...
Carnations by Anthony Carelli – review
In his outstanding first collection, Anthony Corelli finds inspiration in the unlikeliest placesWhen you read a poet for the first time, it is not unlike meeting someone new, in that first impressions count, and all the more so if you think there is a ...
The 10 worst fictional holidays
In pictures: Creepy strangers, decadent families and beaucoup other bad shit… we revisit 10 traumatic getawaysKate Kellaway
