History
Juliet Nicolson ( 4) The Book of Revelations: Women and Their Secrets Chatto, 2nd, £22, HB, 9781784745318
4
Tacking across three generations, from the Second World War to Gisèle Pelicot, Nicolson enthrallingly blends memoir – most movingly concerning her relationship with her own mother – with social history as she explores the changing nature of the secrets women have chosen and/or been forced to keep and what this tells us about the world we live in. Secrets can be thrilling, she finds, but they are just as likely to be a torment, and the deepest, darkest ones echo far down the generations.
Architecture Judy Ovens,
Suzanna Prizeman, Lucy Lavers ( 5) Adventurous Vents: A Journey Through the Ventilation Shafts of Britain Particular, 2nd, £20, HB, 9780241661178
5 Biography
Merlin Holland After Oscar: The Legacy of a Scandal Europa Editions, 16th, £25, HB, 9781787705920
“The story of posthumous Oscar is mostly about… debunking unverified gossip which for years has masqueraded as the truth.” Oscar Wilde died in November 1900, exhausted by scandal and imprisonment. And yet his wit and artistry are now celebrated as never before. This book by his only grandson is first-hand account of the posthumous fluctuations in Wilde’s reputation and how they have affected his descendants. With photos from Holland’s personal archive, it is a tale of court cases, forgeries, impersonators and “cashing in on Oscar”.
When was the last time you noticed a ventilation shaft? Me neither, yet as this photographic tribute shows, they are everywhere, keeping underground structures including tunnels, sewers, mines and more, cool and fume-free. The authors – co-founders of architecture education charity, Our Hut - profile 100 of the UK’s most notable shafts, showcasing both famous and obscure parts of Britain in the process.
6 Biography
Sarah Perry ( 6) Death of an Ordinary Man Cape, 2nd, £18.99, HB, 9781787336001 This first full-length non-fiction work by the acclaimed novelist is an unsparing but beautiful account of caring for her father-in-law David, from receiving his terminal cancer diagnosis until he died nine days later. Bearing minute-by-minute witness to his final hours, it is both an exploration of the culture of care around those with terminal illness in the UK and a tribute to an “ordinary” but irreplaceable man she dearly loved. So many of us have been somewhere similar but few have articulated the experience quite like this.
Language
Ben Schott Schott’s Significa: An Unexpectedly Essential Guide to Language Michael Joseph, 9th, £22, HB, 978024173660
8 Current affairs 2
Lenny Henry ( 8), Marcus Ryder The Big Payback: The Case for Reparations for Slavery and How They Would Work Faber, 9th, £12.99, HB, 9780571380015 This manifesto – named after the James Brown song The Payback – confronts the issue of slavery reparations head on. Talking to economists, politicians, anti-racism campaigners and more, Henry and Ryder explore how we can resolve this inequality resulting from 400 years of the enslavement of African people, seen as essential if we are to tackle the ongoing racism still suffered by millions across the world.
Published in 2002, Schott’s Original Miscellany was a mega bestseller, widely imitated ever since. Now, Schott presents this “language taxonomy for our times”, the way different subcultures use language being one of the few things impossible to Google. It is phenomenally varied in scope, encompassing the ways and words of the Taylor Swift fandom, Dietary Fads and Food Foibles, Venetian gondoliers, reality TV, graffiti writers and much more.
History
Graham Robb ( 7) The Discovery of Britain: An Accidental History Picador, 2nd, £22, HB, 9781035026111
As his award-winning book The Discovery of France demonstrated, Robb has an unerring ability to help us see the familiar as if for the first time. So, my inner nerd was captivated by this idiosyncratic companion volume which invites us to ride tandem on a free-wheeling tour of the British nation: its politics, its geography and its history. Written in short, digestible chapters like its Gallic predecessor, it is full of delightful revelations. Who knew that the noise of sea battles could be heard miles inland? Not I.
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LORENZO CASTORE
LINDA NYLIND/THE GUARDIAN
JO SITTENFELD
SOPHIE DAVIDSON
PHILIPPE MATSAS FLAMMARION
Books New Titles: Non-Fiction
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