Older: A Thought Diary
JAMES ROOSE-EVANS
(ZULEIKA, 296 PP, £9.99)
Tablet bookshop price £9 • tel 020 7799 4064

At 91-and-three-quarters, James Roose-Evans is still producing books at a prodigious rate. This one is his diary, beginning on his ninetieth birthday in 2017, and reflecting on the processes of ageing. There are the physical indignities, of course, but Roose-Evans is more interested in the spiritual changes, the journey of the inner life as the outer life slows down.

There are visits from old and new friends, memories of friends past. A caring lodger appears with venison sausages, kedgeree and bottles of whisky. Above all, there are memories of Hywel Jones, Roose-Evans’ beloved companion for fifty years.