By definition, utopia cannot exist. In 1516, educated readers of Thomas More’s Utopia would have appreciated a tension between two possible derivations of this novel word: the Greek “eu-topos”, meaning good place,... Read more »
You could take two outwardly contradictory lessons from the historian David Turner’s new book on disability in the UK. First, that alarmingly little has changed for disabled people since the beginning of... Read more »
The Pinnacle by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill, £16.99)In the eponymous Mumbai apartment block, the immensely rich and those who serve them exist side by side but worlds apart. Fading American actor George Abercrombie,... Read more »
The plot of A Little Bit Bad sounds like the setup for a joke: “Like, this white lady lusting after her hot Chicano roofer?” Perdita Jungfrau, the narrator, is describing her own... Read more »
It is a decade since Olivia Laing published The Lonely City, a blend of memoir and cultural analysis on the isolation of urban living. Laing – who is non-binary – had moved... Read more »
At 33, the French writer Édouard Louis has already seen all seven of his slim novels translated into English. In his breakout debut, The End of Eddy (2017), and again in Change... Read more »
The last day of maternity leave, and an unnamed mother of two decides to stage a “yes day”, full of treats and good feelings. Of course it does not go according to... Read more »
Washington Augustus Roebling, or “Wash”, was the chief engineer on the Brooklyn Bridge, which, when opened to the public on 24 May 1883, was the longest suspension bridge in the world. It... Read more »
Not With a Bang by Temi Oh (Solstice, £20)The four daughters of a doomsday prepper were trained what to do in an emergency: grab their bags and head for the well-stocked bunker... Read more »