Literary Review

Out now! Literary Review's March 2026 issue, featuring Richard Vinen on the General Strike @GeorgeProchnik on Chaim Soutine Michael Burleigh on the Arctic Peter Davidson on John Aubrey @polblonde on Gisèle Pelicot and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk

In 1971 George Lucas wandered upstairs at Francis Ford Coppola’s party to watch a film called Duel. By the first commercial break he was convinced: director Steven Spielberg possessed rare talent. Graham Daseler reflects on these three men. literaryreview.co.uk/19715-2

"[A] splendid account, whose vitality, resourcefulness and variety of detail will make it hard to rival." - Chuffed with this lovey review of THE FIRST GHETTO from Jonathan Keates in @Lit_Review literaryreview.co.uk/perpetual-stra… @GeorginaCapel @picadorbooks @RenWarwick

In fact, anyone handwringing about the current state of children's fiction can look at over 20 years' worth of my children's book round-ups for @Lit_Review, all FREE to view, where you will find many gems literaryreview.co.uk/contributors/p…

Juggling balls, dead birds, lottery tickets, hypochondriac journalists. All the makings of an excellent collection. Loved Camille Bordas’s One Sun Only in the latest @Lit_Review literaryreview.co.uk/normal-people

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-ador…

Thoroughly enjoyed reviewing Carol Chillington Rutter’s new biography of Henry Wotton for the latest issue of @Lit_Review literaryreview.co.uk/rise-of-the-ma…

Very pleased to see my review of ⁦@Imran_posts⁩’s brilliant book The Indian Caliphate in this month’s ⁦@Lit_Review⁩.

My piece in the latest @Lit_Review on The Edges of the World by Charles Foster. TLDR fascinating on a micro level, frustrating on a macro level: literaryreview.co.uk/fringe-benefits

My review of Sonia Faleiro's powerful new book in this month's @Lit_Review. literaryreview.co.uk/where-rituals-…

for @Lit_Review, I wrote about Freezing Point by Anders Bodelsen, a speculative fiction banger about the cultural consequences of biohacking—Huel dinners, sunny days, negligible culture—that resembles a certain low-tax city for the Turkey teethed literaryreview.co.uk/forever-young-3

‘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 issue of the @Lit_Review, read it here: literaryreview.co.uk/rise-of-the-ma… 'Lying abroad' is out now!

I was delighted to get to review @tobicoventry's "He's The Devil" for @Lit_Review this month!

The first review for The Grandmother is in. 'Thanks in part to Susan Reynolds's haunting new translation, the novel stays in the deep parts of the memory, as if one has not read it but dreamed it'. – Donald Rayfield in Literary Review. It doesn’t get any better than that!

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 on far-right France and much, much more: literaryreview.co.uk

For this month’s @Lit_Review I read Madeline Cash’s very good debut, Lost Lambs, a novel so funny that I wrote ‘ha!’ in the margin of at least a hundred of its pages, my pencil worn to a nub literaryreview.co.uk/dialled-up-to-…

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. @sophieolive introduces us to a young Peggy. literaryreview.co.uk/ms-fixits-char…

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 wonders what is to be done. literaryreview.co.uk/doublethink-do…

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

Certainly the zaniest thing I read this year, Nicola Barker’s TonyInterruptor is a brief, sharp, dazzling novel which I reviewed for @Lit_Review. literaryreview.co.uk/malign-interve…