By Michael OndaatjeSri Lankan-born Anil, whose name she bought from her brother when she was a young, famous swimmer, and who has studied in the UK and the US, returns to her war-torn homeland as a forensic anthropologist investigating human rights crimes. Sri Lanka is a mess, and the lives of its people are messier,…
Read moreAn Equal Music
By Vikram SethMichael is a violinist in a string quartet in London. He lives a quiet life with music being his greatest joy – he simply can’t forget the woman he loved and abandoned while he was a student in Vienna ten years ago. A chance sighting of Julia on a distant London bus brings…
Read moreThe Good Cook
Edited by Richard Olney This finely-photographed book is food pornography at its most sophisticated. It’s both more and less than a true cook book, with theoretical and practical information taking up the bulk of the book, and a recipe section with directions that need a good reading through before you start as they can be…
Read moreFirst They Killed My Father
By Loung UngThis powerful narrative describes the true experiences of a child who suffers at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. When Loung is five-years-old the regime takes Phnom Penh, and she and her family are forced to flee into the countryside where they are vigilant in keeping their middle-class past secret. Eventually her father…
Read moreGuard’s story fires blanks
The Bodyguard’s Story By Trevor Rees-Jones Who would bother to read this review? Let’s face it: if you’re into the British Royals, you’ll be into Princess Diana and you’ll remember precisely where you were when you heard about her death and burst into tears. And you’ll definitely buy The Bodyguard’s Story because it’s the tale…
Read moreStrong family, horrific lives
First They Killed My Father By Loung Ung This book is a gripping tale about the experiences of a child who spent far too much of her childhood growing up under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. No human being, let alone a child, should have had to endure what somehow Loung managed to; this book…
Read moreThe Ground Beneath Her Feet
By Salman Rushdie Rushdie’s latest novel is a sprawling yet finely-crafted tale of the love between the most famous rock’n’roll couple history has ever seen, Indian British then American expats Vina Aspara and Ormus Cama. Penned by photographer Rai, the second-fiddle lover of Vina, the novel simultaneously mocks and eulogises popular culture. Test your modern…
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