Literary Review

Literary Review

@litreview.bsky.social

Britain's leading monthly literary magazine. For people who devour books. Read our latest: literaryreview.co.uk Get our free newsletter: http://eepurl.com/daK84f

420 Followers 256 Following 44 Posts Joined Mar 2025
1 month ago
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Lucasta Miller - Life, Work & Adoration Lucasta Miller: Life, Work & Adoration - Becoming George: The Invention of George Sand by Fiona Sampson

Despite adopting a pseudonym, George Sand lived much of her life in public view.

Lucasta Miller asks whether Sand’s fame has obscured her work.

literaryreview.co.uk/life-work-ad...

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1 month ago
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Delighted and extremely grateful for this kind review of Ghost Stations @cbeditions.bsky.social by Jonathan Keates in this month's @litreview.bsky.social . I'd like to stay on this train, thank you.

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1 month ago
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Richard Bourke - Passage to a Better World Richard Bourke: Passage to a Better World - The Revolution to Come: A History of an Idea from Thucydides to Lenin by Dan Edelstein; Revolutions: A New History by Donald Sassoon

We’re delighted to see Dan Edelstein's The Revolution to Come reviewed in the latest issue of @litreview.bsky.social! Learn more about the "impressive range and subtlety" of this book here, plus save 30% with code PUP30:

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1 month ago
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Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New RightBy Laura K Field Michael Burleigh: - Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right by Laura K Field

Check out this review of the "remarkable" and "fluently written" Furious Minds by @lkatfield.bsky.social in @litreview.bsky.social: literaryreview.co.uk/19658-2

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1 month ago
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Will Wiles - A Bally High Will Wiles: A Bally High - Same Player Shoots Again: A Biography of the Pinball Machine by Andreas Bernard (Translated from German by Valentine A Pakis)

I thought I might prompt people to buy this book - you should, it's very good - but yesterday I learned that an acquaintance had bought *a pinball machine* on the strength of this review, so mind how you go. @litreview.bsky.social literaryreview.co.uk/a-bally-high

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1 month ago

#HardStreets @profilebooks.bsky.social is on the cover of the new @litreview.bsky.social “Riding comes out as a local herself whose great-­grandfather died in the Lambeth workhouse…I know these streets and I read this deeply researched and valuable book with passionate identification”. Many thanks 🎉

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1 month ago
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Alexander Lee - Rise of the Machinations Alexander Lee: Rise of the Machinations - Lying Abroad: Henry Wotton and the Invention of Diplomacy by Carol Chillington Rutter

‘A richly rewarding book, which succeeds in painting a vivid portrait of one of the 17th century’s most intriguing figures.'

Alexander Lee's review of 'Lying abroad' in the latest @litreview.bsky.social, read it here: literaryreview.co.uk/rise-of-the-...

'Lying abroad' is out now! #booksky

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1 month ago
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Philippe Marlière - Normal Circumstances? Philippe Marlière: Normal Circumstances? - Far-Right France: Le Pen, Bardella and the Future of Europe by Victor Mallet

I reviewed "Far-Right France: Le Pen, Bardella and the Future of Europe" by Victor Mallet for @litreview.bsky.social. (February issue) Article in free access below. 👇
literaryreview.co.uk/normal-circu...

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1 month ago
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Out now! Literary Review's February 2026 issue, featuring

Norma Clarke on Charlie Chaplin’s London
Richard Bourke on revolutions
Lucasta Miller on George Sand
Peter Davidson on Constable
@phmarliere.bsky.social on far-right France

and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk

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1 month ago
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Sophie Oliver - Ms Fixit’s Characteristics Sophie Oliver: Ms Fixit’s Characteristics - Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts by Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood has become a cultural weathervane, blamed for predicting dystopia and celebrated for resisting it. Yet her ‘memoir of sorts’ reveals a more complicated, playful figure.

Sophie Oliver introduces us to a young Peggy.

literaryreview.co.uk/ms-fixits-ch...

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2 months ago
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Dorian Lynskey - Doublethink & Doubt Dorian Lynskey: Doublethink & Doubt - Orwell: 2+2=5 by Raoul Peck (dir); George Orwell: Life and Legacy by Robert Colls

For a writer so ubiquitous, George Orwell remains curiously elusive. His voice is lost, his image scarce; all that survives is the prose, and the interpretations built upon it.

@dorianlynskey.bsky.social wonders what is to be done.

literaryreview.co.uk/doublethink-...

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2 months ago
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Peter Marshall - Varnish & Virtue Peter Marshall: Varnish & Virtue - Holbein: Renaissance Master by Elizabeth Goldring

The court of Henry VIII is easy to envision thanks to Hans Holbein the Younger’s portraits: the bearded king, Anne of Cleves in red and gold, Thomas Cromwell demure in black.

Peter Marshall paints a picture of the artist himself.

literaryreview.co.uk/varnish-virtue

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2 months ago
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Robert Crawford - Advice to Poets Robert Crawford: Advice to Poets - The Letters of T S Eliot, Volume 10: 1942–1944 by Valerie Eliot & John Haffenden (edd)

The latest volume of T S Eliot’s letters, covering 1942–44, reveals a constant stream of correspondence. By contrast, his poetic output was negligible.

Robert Crawford ponders if Eliot the poet was beginning to be left behind.

literaryreview.co.uk/advice-to-po...

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2 months ago
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David Andress - Exquisite Corpse David Andress: Exquisite Corpse - Jean-Paul Marat: Prophet of Terror by Keith Michael Baker

Jacques-Louis David immortalised Jean-Paul Marat as a serene martyr in a bathtub, but his life was spent in furious activity. David Andress considers the fruits of Marat's wild energy.

literaryreview.co.uk/exquisite-co...

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3 months ago
My Notebook piece, 'In A Pickle', from the Christmas issue of Literary Review.

I'm in the bumper Christmas @litreview.bsky.social, talking mostly about pickles. #pickles

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2 months ago
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Will Wiles - Door to Door Will Wiles: Door to Door - The English House: A History in Eight Buildings by Dan Cruickshank

In the bumper Christmas issue of @litreview.bsky.social I review Dan Cruickshank's "The English House", which has affability and and erudition in abundance, and occasional longueurs: literaryreview.co.uk/door-to-door

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2 months ago
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Out now! Literary Review's December 2025 / January 2026 issue, featuring

Peter Marshall on Holbein
Sophie Oliver on Margaret Atwood
Joanna Kavenna on Camus's notebooks
@edwardshawcross.bsky.social on Mexico
@dorianlynskey.bsky.social on George Orwell

and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk

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3 months ago
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John Phipps - Approach & Seduction John Phipps: Approach & Seduction - John le Carré: Tradecraft; Tradecraft: Writers on John le Carré by Federico Varese (ed)

The son of a notorious con man, John le Carré turned deception into an art form. Does his archive unmask the author or merely prove how well he learned to disappear?

John Phipps explores.

literaryreview.co.uk/approach-sed...

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4 months ago
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Out now! Literary Review's November 2025 issue, featuring

@jntod.bsky.social on Seamus Heaney
Kathryn Murphy on Vermeer
Sophie Oliver on Katherine Mansfield
Kirsten Tambling on two 18th-century artists
John Phipps on John le Carré

and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk

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4 months ago
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Stephen Smith - Paint Fast, Die Young Stephen Smith: Paint Fast, Die Young - Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Making of an Icon by Doug Woodham

Though Jean-Michel Basquiat was a sensation in his lifetime, it was thirty years after his death that one of his pieces fetched a record price of $110.5 million.

Stephen Smith explores the artist's starry afterlife.

literaryreview.co.uk/paint-fast-d...

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5 months ago
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Anna Reid - Mission Impossible Anna Reid: Mission Impossible - Mavericks: Empire, Oil, Revolution and the Forgotten Battle of World War One by Nick Higham

In the summer of 1918, the Caspian port of Baku played host to a remarkable group of Allied soldiers, sent to defend oil wells against the Ottomans.

Anna Reid recounts their escapades.

literaryreview.co.uk/mission-impo...

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5 months ago
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I reviewed Lynda Nead's BRITISH BLONDE: WOMEN, DESIRE AND THE IMAGE IN POST-WAR BRITAIN for the latest issue of Literary Review @litreview.bsky.social Lovely stuff in four chapters, each about a different British Blonde; can you guess who they are? (One is easy!) literaryreview.co.uk/peroxide-pat...

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5 months ago
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Out now! Literary Review's October 2025 issue, featuring

John Adamson on the origins of news
Ritchie Robertson on Goethe
Stephen Smith on Basquiat
Anna Reid on oil and the First World War
Robert Hazell on constitutional monarchy

and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk

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6 months ago
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Literary Review - For People Who Devour Books In the Current Issue: Will Tosh on Christopher Marlowe * John Banville on Christopher Clarke * Claire Harman on Muriel Spark * Seamus Perry on Tennyson * Lucy Hughes-Hallett on the stiff upper lip * L...

Out now! Literary Review's September 2025 issue, featuring

@willtosh.bsky.social on Christopher Marlowe
@claireharman.bsky.social on Muriel Spark
Seamus Perry on Tennyson
Lucy Hughes-Hallett on the stiff upper lip
Patrick Wilcken on Easter Island

and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk

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6 months ago
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Edward Short - In Search of Samuel Clemens Edward Short: In Search of Samuel Clemens - Mark Twain by Ron Chernow

19th-century America runs through the life and work of Mark Twain, who was a typesetter, a gold rush prospector, a Confederate soldier and more.

Edward Short investigates where Samuel Clemens ends, and Twain begins.

literaryreview.co.uk/in-search-of...

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7 months ago
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David Leeder - One-Track Minds David Leeder: One-Track Minds - Off the Rails: The Inside Story of HS2 by Sally Gimson

Like many trains in this country, HS2 has been blighted by delays and rocketing costs.

David Leeder asks who is to blame for the project's failures.

literaryreview.co.uk/one-track-mi...

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7 months ago
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Bijan Omrani - Colosseum Confidential Bijan Omrani: Colosseum Confidential - Those Who Are About to Die: Gladiators and the Roman Mind by Harry Sidebottom

Students of Ancient Rome have long wondered, why would you enjoy watching a man being hacked to death in front of you?

@bijanomrani.bsky.social digs for an answer.

literaryreview.co.uk/colosseum-co...

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7 months ago
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Literary Review - For People Who Devour Books In the Current Issue: Edward Short on Mark Twain * Mark Ford on James Schuyler * Angela Tilby on St Augustine * Dmitri Levitin on Einstein * Howard Davies on Trump's tariffs * Peter Marshall on James ...

Out now! Literary Review's August 2025 issue, featuring

Edward Short on Mark Twain
Angela Tilby on St Augustine
Mark Ford on James Schuyler
Dmitri Levitin on Albert Einstein
Howard Davies on Trump's tariffs

and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk

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8 months ago
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Alexander Lee - Man of Glass Alexander Lee: Man of Glass - Boccaccio: A Biography by Marco Santagata (Translated from Italian by Emlyn Eisenach)

Giovanni Boccaccio’s life was one of change and reinvention, ranging from banking to studying canon law, and culminating in his eventual exile from Naples.

Alexander Lee explores how these experiences can be found in the poet’s restless work.

literaryreview.co.uk/man-of-glass

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8 months ago
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Literary Review - For People Who Devour Books In the Current Issue: Will Wiles on Purism * Dennis Duncan on ephemera * Alexander Lee on Boccaccio * Allan Massie on Horace * D J Taylor on Lawrence Durrell * Paul Morland on why we need more people ...

In the July issue of Literary Review:

@willwiles.bsky.social
on the Frenchman who brought modernism to London

Giles Fraser
on Hitler and the vicar

Also: Rhodes on trial, Boccaccio in love, Plato gets political - and much, much more.

Out now!

literaryreview.co.uk

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