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Amazon Unbound by Brad Stone review
There’s a lot to enjoy in this unauthorised account of the world’’s richest man and his company, but the author fails to address the really tough moral questions, says Simon English
Malice in Wonderland by Hugo Vickers review
Hugo Vickers’s authorised biography of the society photographer was a bestseller when it came out in 1985. The diaries he kept at the time form the basis for this illuminating and brilliantly scurrilous companion to his original book, says Marcus Field
What London’s Reading Now: this week’s bestselling top 5 books
Continuing our regular series highlighting the books that Londoners are loving right now
Lionel Shriver: The biggest problem with the ‘woke’ is their methods
Lionel Shriver’s new book is about death but she insists it is ‘not a downer’. Here, she talks about choice, being an anti-woke pin-up and only eating one meal a day
Animal by Lisa Taddeo review
The first novel from the Three Women writer is psychologically astute but not as impactful as her non-fiction bestseller
Consumed: A Sister’s Story by Arifa Akbar review
Journalist Arifa Akbar’s memoir about her elder sister, who died from TB, is intelligent and scrupulously written
Will Young: My story of how I overcame gay shame and found my peace
Today the Evening Standard in association with Netflix launches its first Stories Festival. Will Young, a speaker and a judge of our What’s Your Story? writing competition, tells Katie Law about why it’s so vital to help young people find their voice
Languages of Truth: Essays 2003-2020 by Salman Rushdie review
The best piece in this collection of the Booker Prize winning-author’s essays is a personal essay about recovering from Covid
What we learned from Dominic Cummings’ favourite self-help book
Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser swears by Julia Galef’s rationalist manifesto and says tens of thousands of Covid deaths could have been prevented if the Government had read it. Melanie McDonagh gets into a scout mindset
Real Estate by Deborah Levy review
The third and final part of the novelist’s ‘living biography’ is a beautifully crafted and thought-provoking snapshot of a life, says Susannah Butter
Why are we still so obsessed with the Mitford sisters?
As Nancy Mitford’s The Pursuit of Love comes to the BBC, we look at how the legacy of the Mitford sisters continues to fascinate
In pursuit of Nancy: the story of the wittiest Mitford sister
Nancy Mitford is not the frothy romance novelist that many think, but an accomplished writer who understood how dark life can be
Second Place by Rachel Cusk review
This strange and fascinating story marks yet another new departure for the novelist, but its obscure literary allusions perplex Claire Harman
John Craxton: A Life of Gifts by Ian Collins
The adventures of a bohemian artist are brought to life in spectacular colour in this vivid and uplifting biography, says Martin Bentham
Claire Eastham: ‘F**k I Think I’m Dying
After ten years of living with undiagnosed social anxiety, the author suffered a sudden, catastrophic breakdown during a routine office interview. She thought she was having a heart attack. She tells Katie Law about the root causes and triggers for her panic attacks, and how she has learned to tame them
The Case of the Married Woman by Antonia Fraser review
Antonia Fraser’s latest biography chronicles the extraordinary life of Caroline Norton, the 19th century author and trailblazing campaigner who fought for justice for women. A sensational story, it deserves to be made into a costume drama of substance, says Katie Rosseinsky
Our favourite fiction reads in lockdown: the books that kept us going
Sales of fiction soared during the pandemic as we sought refuge from our own surreal reality. Evening Standard writers on the stories they couldn’t get enough of...
Everybody: A Book about Freedom by Olivia Laing review
In her most ambitious and personal book yet, Olivia Laing turns her attention to the ideas of Wilhelm Reich, a psychoanalyst and contemporary of Freud, to conduct an investigation into the body and its discontents. The result is an entertaining and thrilling treasure trove of ideas, says Jessie Thompson
Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism by Kathleen Stock
This clearsighted analysis by a feminist philosopher of how gender identity theory negatively impacts women and girls feels radical – and even slightly dangerous. It’s an important book that needs to be read, says Stella o’ Malley
Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe by Niall Ferguson - Review
From plagues and volcanic eruptions to the current Covid pandemic, mankind has always been faced with catastrophes. This panoramic history about how we coped in the past and will continue to do so, is packed with brilliant insights and ideas, says Martin Bentham
The Lost Café Schindler by Meriel Schindler book review
When the author discovered four coffee cups among her late father’s belongings, she felt compelled to research the story of the family business - a café in Innsbruck founded by her grandfather and taken over by the Nazis - and ended up writing a book about it. Claire Allfree investigates
Bear by Marian Engel review
Hailed as an erotic masterpiece when it was first published in the 1970s, this Canadian feminist tale, published in the UK for the first time, about a woman having sex with a bear in the wilds of northern Ontario, is a completely nutty but oddly beguiling fantasy, says Katie Law
The Sistine Chapel as You’ve Never Seen It Before
This monumental book project involved photographers going up a huge scaffold to take more than a quarter of a million photographs of Michelangelo’s masterpiece. The pictures were digitally stitched together and the result - a mighty three volume slab with a £16,500 price tag. Is it worth it? Yes, says David Ekserdjian
‘Stylish’ book on working mothers shortlisted for top prize
A ‘lively’ book on the ‘emotionally-charged issue of working mothers’ that ranges from modern day Canary Wharf to Victorian Manchester is shortlisted for history’s top prize.
Letters to Camondo by Edmund de Waal review
This beautiful book by the author of The Hare with Amber Eyes, about the banking family known as the ‘Rothschilds of the East’ opens a window onto an entire lost world, says Ian Thomson
The Duchess Countess by Catherine Ostler review
If you liked Bridgerton, you’ll love this rip-roaring romp of bisexual royal affairs, scheming politicians and endless parties, the main difference being that this story is all true, says Marcus Field
Monica Jones, Philip Larkin and Me by John Sutherland review
She was a vile racist, a depressed companion to a constitutionally unfaithful man, but Monica Jones was also the woman who cultivated the aesthetic sensibility of one of the greatest poets of the last century, says Tomiwa Owolade
A Cure for Darkness by Alex Riley: How I live with mental illness
Lobotomies, electroshock therapy and crippling medication are just some of the treatments that have been used to treat depression in the past. Science writer and sufferer, Alex Riley decided to write a book about the history and treatment of depression, partly to help heal himself, he tells Katie Law
Douglas Stuart on life after winning the Booker Prize
He became the most sought-after author overnight, but being stuck indoors in lockdown meant everything was virtual. Douglas Stuart tells Katie Law about his next novel, turning Shuggie Bain into a TV series and why his story has universal appeal
The woman who gave us the smallpox vaccine
The author of a new biography about the English aristocrat who inoculated her daughter says Lady Mary Wortley Montagu deserves more recognition
Trans novelist Torrey Peters: ‘I have a lot of empathy for JK Rowling’
As she becomes the first trans woman nominated for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Torrey Peters tells Susannah Butter her story
Those Who Can, Teach by Andria Zafirakou: going above and beyond
She’s an art school teacher who won the $1 million Global Teacher Prize for going ‘above and beyond’. Now Andria Zafirakou has written an inspirational book about how to get the best out of the children at her school, some of whom barely speak English, says Melanie McDonagh
Crime and thrillers: Three for April
For his April roundup, Robert Dex chooses a spy story set at the start of the Cold war, a mafia-style saga set in Bradford, and the return of Temperance Brennan facing Covid, flesh-eating bacteria and some stormy weather
The Little Man of Archangel by Georges Simenon review
The mystery surrounding the disappearance of a Jewish bookseller’s young wife provides another treat for Georges Simenon fans after the delights of his Maigret series, says Martin Bentham
First Person Singular by Haruki Murakami review
His latest collection of short stories play on perennial Murakami themes: chance encounters, the clash between magic and mundanity and the power of memory, says Arjun Neil Alim