In 1986, two catastrophic events occurred on either side of the cold war divide that shocked the world. On 28 January, 73 seconds after takeoff, the US space shuttle Challenger broke apart... Read more »
The efflorescence of menâs magazines in the UK lasted from about 1985 to 2010. You may recall their titles on newsagentsâ shelves â Arena, GQ, Maxim, Esquire â near in time but... Read more »
For those less well-versed than me in the world of high 1980s Hollywood and its various satellites â or do I mean parasites? â it may be useful if I begin this... Read more »
Zadie Smithâs sixth novel is set in 1870s Kilburn, home to William Ainsworth, a real-life novelist of questionable talent, and his Scottish cousin and housekeeper Eliza Touchet. The Fraud moves between Elizaâs... Read more »
Jiaming Tangâs debut novel opens in China in the 1980s, at the Workersâ Cinema in rural Fuzhou, a cruising spot for queer men. The cinema is described as a magical, almost utopian... Read more »
In Julia Armfieldâs third book the effects of the climate crisis are felt daily. The city in which sisters Isla, Irene and Agnes live has been transformed by endless rain â and... Read more »
From the very first sentence of Richard Flanaganâs 12th book, Question 7, the model for this extraordinary, hybrid work is clear. WG Sebald is there in the subject matter: the second world... Read more »
When Yuan Yang was four years old, she tells us, her parents brought her from China to the UK as they pursued new educational opportunities. Although Private Revolutions, her vivid and detailed... Read more »
One might feel short-changed to read a book about death by Sebastian Junger that did not include some battlefield drama. After 1997âs The Perfect Storm, his bestselling account of a trawler disaster... Read more »