News and reviews

Helsinki reviewed in the Spectator

Added on 29/12/2025

In 1920, the young Finnish architect Alvar Alto flew over Helsinki for the first time. He was aghast. ‘An aviator can see where the monkeys have been and destroyed so very much,’ he recalled. Alto’s aerial view reflected a story of fragmentation and occupation spanning some five centuries, now surveyed by the historian Henrik Meinander.

Alchemy reviewed in the LRB

Added on 25/12/2025

The alchemist​ in his laboratory was a popular subject for Dutch painters of the 17th century because it allowed them to show off their skill with light. Mattheus van Helmont’s A Savant in His Cabinet, Surrounded by Chemical and Other Apparatus, Examining a Flask (1670s), one of the splendid plates in Philip Ball’s introduction to alchemy, depicts an alchemist at work, brandishing a beaker of pale blue fluid in one hand, surrounded by the implements of his craft.

The White Lady mentioned in the Daily Mail

Added on 20/12/2025

Among the most magical moments of this Hanukkah and Christmas season of gift giving is opening handsomely wrapped books from friends. As much as the socks, scarves and English sparkling wine are appreciated, none of these thrill as much as a reading surprise.

Up in the Air reviewed in the Spectator

Added on 12/12/2025

On BBC 2 last Monday,’ noted the Sunday Telegraph’s TV critic Trevor Grove in February 1979, ‘the return of Fawlty Towers was immediately followed by a programme about faulty towers.

Wild for Austen reviewed in the TLS

Added on 12/12/2025

Miss Fanny’s ferocity merited special notice in The Picture of London, for 1809, a guidebook published by John Feltham. Even among others of her kind, “the difference of disposition in the same species” was “very striking”.

Patchwork reviewed in the TLS

Added on 12/12/2025

Miss Fanny’s ferocity merited special notice in The Picture of London, for 1809, a guidebook published by John Feltham. Even among others of her kind, “the difference of disposition in the same species” was “very striking”.

A Historian in Gaza reviewed in the New Statesman

Added on 11/12/2025

The succession of mass rallies across the UK against the genocide in Gaza form the single biggest protest movement in recent British history. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets to show their sympathy for the bombed, starved and displaced civilians of Gaza.

Up in the Air reviewed in the Morning Star

Added on 09/12/2025

The book’s black and white cover photo is very clearly a scene from the 1960s — a woman with a distinctive beehive haircut is looking out from her 17th-floor flat, carefully holding a young child as they gaze into the distance.

Holbein reviewed in the Spectator

Added on 06/12/2025

On the evening of 6 May 1527, Henry VIII entertained an embassy from France at a lavish party in Greenwich. The festivities took place in a banqueting house and a theatre, both built for the occasion. At the feast’s end, Henry led his guests out through a great archway.

Songs of Seven Dials reviewed in the Observer

Added on 06/12/2025

In the middle of Seven Dials, an area of Covent Garden that can be crossed on foot in a matter of minutes, is a thin, elegant stone pillar. I’ve walked past it countless times, assuming it must be as old as this part of London, laid out by Thomas Neale MP in the early 1690s.

Holbein reviewed in the Church Times

Added on 05/12/2025

Katherine Mansfield – A Guardian Best Biography of 2025

Added on 04/12/2025

Not all memoirists are keen to share their life stories. For Margaret Atwood, an author who has sold more than 40m books, the idea of writing about herself seemed “Dead boring. Who wants to read about someone sitting at a desk messing up blank sheets of paper?”