Book reviewed in this issue
The Irish Benedictines: a historyEd. Martin Brown OSB and Colmán O Clabaigh OSB
Reviewed by Augustine Holmes
The Columba Press, £19.99
Tablet bookshop price £18
The Short Life and Long Times of Isabella BeetonKathryn Hughes
Reviewed by Melanie McDonagh
Fourth Estate, £20
Tablet bookshop price £18
Speaking for EnglandDavid Faber
Reviewed by Richard Bassett
Simon & Schuster, £20
Tablet bookshop price £18
MemoirJohn McGahern
Reviewed by Terry Philpot
Faber & Faber, £16.99
Tablet bookshop price £15.30
The LighthouseP.D. James
Reviewed by Anthony Lejeune
Faber & Faber, £17.99
Tablet bookshop price £16.20
Previous weeks reviews
Ripped and Torn: Levi’s, Latin America and the blue jean dreamAmaranta Wright
Reviewed by Jimmy Burns
Ebury Press, £10.99
Tablet bookshop price £10
Slow ManJ.M. Coetzee
Reviewed by Philip Womack
Secker & Warburg, £16.99
Tablet bookshop price £15.30
Blondel’s Song: the capture, imprisonment and ransom of Richard the LionheartDavid Boyle
Reviewed by Noonie Minogue
Viking, £20
Tablet bookshop price £18
Opus Dei: secrets and power inside the Catholic Church John L. Allen
Reviewed by Christopher Howse
Allen Lane, £20
Tablet bookshop price £18
In 1987 Cardinal Hume wrote to the Archbishop of Seoul, who had asked if it was a good idea to let Opus Dei start up in his diocese. “I know that Opus Dei contains many good people ...
Olivier: the authorised biographyTerry Coleman
Reviewed by Francis Beckett
Bloomsbury, £20
Tablet bookshop price £18
Pietro Bembo: lover, linguist, cardinal Carol Kidwell
Reviewed by Michael Walsh
McGill University Press, £29.95
Tablet bookshop price £27
Two LivesVikram Seth
Reviewed by Raymond Edwards
Little, Brown, £20
Tablet bookshop price £18
On BeautyZadie Smith
Reviewed by Kathy Watson
Hamish Hamilton, £16.99
Tablet bookshop price £15.30
The New SCM Dictionary of Christian SpiritualityEd. Philip Sheldrake
Reviewed by Laurence Freeman
SCM, £40
Tablet bookshop price £36
The word “spirituality” might evoke different responses. Probably few would say it is a bad thing but some might have thoughts they would not make public. For some it is the essence ...
Holy TerrorTerry Eagleton
Reviewed by John Cottingham
Oxford University Press, £12.99
Tablet bookshop price £11.70
Gentle Regrets: a philosopher’s lifeRoger Scruton
Reviewed by Ian Ker
Continuum, £16.99
Tablet bookshop price £15.30
Humphrey Repton’s MemoirsEd. Ann Gore and George Carter
Reviewed by Timothy Brittain-Catlin
Michael Russell Ltd, £15.95
Tablet bookshop price £14.40
Sandstorm Henry Shukman
Reviewed by Timothy Wright
Jonathan Cape, £12.99
Tablet bookshop price £11.70
As Music and SplendourKate O’Brien
Reviewed by Mary Blanche Ridge
Penguin Books, £6.99
Tablet bookshop price £6.30
Shalimar the ClownSalman Rushdie
Reviewed by Raymond Edwards
Jonathan Cape, £17.99
Tablet bookshop price £16.20
This is not a book of surprises. We begin with the murder of Max Ophuls, an apparently retired diplomat, an American born in Alsace to Jewish parents. The killer is his driver, a ...
Birds BritannicaMark Cocker and Richard Mabey
Reviewed by John Wilkins
Chatto & Windus, £35
Tablet bookshop price £31.50
Isabella: She-Wolf of France, Queen of EnglandAlison Weir
Reviewed by Kathy Watson
Jonathan Cape, £20
Tablet bookshop price £18
Van der Weyden Lorne Campbell
Reviewed by Laura Gascoigne
Chaucer Press, £15.99
Tablet bookshop price £14.40
George Stubbs and the Wide CreationRobin Blake
Reviewed by Robert Thicknesse
Chatto & Windus, £25
Tablet bookshop price £22.50
The Siege of VeniceJonathan Keates
Reviewed by David Goodall
Chatto & Windus, £20
Tablet bookshop price £18
Room Full of Mirrors: a biography of Jimi HendrixCharles R. Cross
Reviewed by Andy Bull
Sceptre, £18.99
Tablet bookshop price £17.10
The History of King Richard IIISir Thomas More
Reviewed by Selina O’Grady
Hesperus Press, £6.99
Tablet bookshop price £6.30
Human TracesSebastian Faulks
Reviewed by Brendan Walsh
Hutchinson, £17.99
Tablet bookshop price £16.20
The Time Diaries Julian Fane
Reviewed by David McLaurin
Book Guild, £16.95
Tablet bookshop price £15.30
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