Diane Banks

Tinder Press, 2010 Why? I’m always glad of an excuse to read Maggie O’Farrell, and this award-winning novel had somehow passed me by until now. I was drawn in by the promise of two parallel stories, following two women in different time periods as they navigate motherhood alongside complicated love lives and family dynamics. I grabbed it on the brilliant BookBub, to which I’ve become slightly addicted. It definitely generates additional sales. Enjoyment factor As ever with Ma

Viking, 2022 / Penguin paperbacks, 2023 Why? This is an author whom I've been meaning to read for some time. The state-of-the-nation aspect appealed, as well as the generational trajectory (following the same family from 1945 to the present day) as it aligns with the living history of my own family. Enjoyment factor .... The novel didn't live up to expectations, unfortunately! The conceit is neat, structured around key moments in our national history: VE Day, the Coronation o

Simon & Schuster, 2026 Why? A long-standing fascination with the history of media - and with the forces and personalities that shape it - made this an irresistible read. The Murdochs have loomed over the media landscape for decades, but the family drama has felt newly vivid in recent years: partly because of the latest twists in the real-life succession saga, and partly because Succession has sharpened public interest in dynastic power. Enjoyment factor I couldn't put it dow

Picador, 2011 Why? Having been mesmerised by my first Hollinghurst - The Line of Beauty - last summer despite its length and paucity of plot, I was attracted to The Stranger's Child in a second-hand bookshop recently. It had the added benefit of being a "1913 novel" - a genre of which I can never get enough - as well as promising a sweeping exploration of societal change throughout the twentieth century. Enjoyment factor This is an elusive novel, exploring how people and sto

4th Estate, 2025 Why? Of all of the London restaurateurs in recent decades, Jeremy King is the constant as regards style, elegance and class. Renowned for restoring iconic restaurants to their former glory (Le Caprice twice; the Ivy; J Sheekey; the forthcoming re-opening of Simpson's) as well as creating new concepts with imagined histories (The Delaunay; Colbert; Fischer's), King is equally as well known for his ability to curate a clientele as he is for his impeccable food,