Philip Womack

These pieces show the author trying her darndest to find her voice

Christopher J. Scalia knows his audience and his light, avuncular style proves engaging throughout

If Presumed Guilty seems slightly hollow, that may be because it’s all been done before so many times that it’s difficult to be original

The pop psychologist’s new book is not likely to light the fire of faith in any young fan

Gabriel’s Moon is the welcome return of one of Britain’s most reliably gripping novelists

Rhodri Lewis’s book offers so many fresh insights and well-turned phrases that I had to buy a new notebook to fit them all in

In Elaine , Self has shown that understanding is possible, across generations and across time

Creation Lake is a book about how humans deal with what is deemed to be Other

The Playbook is a dramatic tale, full of overreaching ambition, dastardly plots, embattled heroes and last-minute reversals

This is a work about significant moments, glittering with reflections and refractions

The writer remains strong, his determination to write a beacon for anyone who cares about freedom of thought and speech

When you give a child a book by a celebrity, you are feeding their minds with advertising

Dan Jones confidently evokes the whorehouses, the illnesses, the death and depravity

A new translation and critical study explore the legendary poem’s numinous spell

A Guest in the House is a beautifully plotted study of the madness of isolation, steeped in the tropes of fairy tale and horror

The Fraud  is a consciously (but not self-consciously) literary novel

In The Romantic , it’s as if Boyd has distilled the essence of centuries of novel-writing

Luke Turner’s essential thesis is that the war opened up a brief time of sexual liberation for men

The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece is as clumsy as its plodding title

If Alice Winn’s material is familiar, she handles it with skill and panache