Book Reviews: 26 May
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HUGH HONOUR AND JOHN FLEMING: REMEMBERED by Susanna Johnston (Gibson Square, £20)
This enjoyable memoir charts a 60-year friendship between three eccentrics, brilliant gossips and aesthetes. Susanna Johnston first met Hugh Honour and John Fleming as a teenager in the 1950s when all three were companions to the blind writer and critic Percy Lubbock at Gli Scafari, his villa on the Italian Riviera. Honour and Fleming were to become titans of art history. They read aloud to Lubbock, who in exchange gave them an entrée to the exclusive Anglo-Italian artistic world of Bernard Berenson’s villa I Tatti and Harold Acton’s La Pietra.
Johnston fell in platonic love with life partners Fleming and Honour, and they with her – they bought houses near one another in Lucca. When Honour died last may, she decided to piece together this memoir, using letters, diaries and recollections from her four daughters and architect husband Nicholas Johnston. The immensely distinguished work of these famous art historians is taken as read. It is the relationships between the three that are analysed in light- hearted style, as Johnson regales us with utterly charming, detail-rich accounts of the gossip, laughter, food and drink and the other fascinating people who entered their world. A short and ideal holiday read – particularly for those visiting Tuscany.
Mary Killen
MEET ME IN THE IN-BETWEEN by Bella Pollen (Mantle, £18.99)Home or away? For the fashion designer and novelist Bella Pollen, the answer has usually been ‘neither’. Her formative years were spent on both sides of the Atlantic, a consequence of her parents’ divorce, and, after marrying her second husband, she commuted seasonally between London and the Rockies.
If the idea of putting down roots is anathema to Pollen, then so are most conventions: when her waters break she reaches automatically for her passport before opting for a less ambitious escape and hightailing it to the cinema.
Meet Me in the In-Between is as offbeat as its author, blending memoir with beguiling and graphic novelistic interludes and, although it is at times studiedly elliptical, the entertainment value is consistent throughout. Pollen’s first road trip across the American west, for instance, culminates in an after-hours raid on monument valley (‘How could a valley be shut?’ she wonders, on finding the place closes at 5pm), and an obsession with the Mexican border ends in friendship with a band of Pink Floyd- obsessed smugglers.
Elsewhere, there are glimpses of the harder truths that Pollen has sought to outrun, but overall, this is a journey that buzzes and sparks with life and wit.
Stephanie Cross
BOOK OF THE WEEK
Older but none the wiser
THE NOTHING by Hanif Kureishi (Faber & Faber, £14.99)
One of Britain’s most acerbic social commentators, Hanif Kureishi is not one to mince words. His blend of expert storytelling and poignant philosophical musings has elevated him to a national treasure, where he resides as one of Britain’s most celebrated authors. His latest offering, a captivating novella set in contemporary London, does not disappoint and bears all the hallmarks of Kureishi’s trademark mordant wit. A gripping domestic drama, it centres around an ageing film director, his younger wife and her alleged lover, engaging the reader from the start.
Waldo, confined to a wheelchair and believing his wife unfaithful, plots revenge, wreaking emotional havoc in the process. While this ménage à trois is the central theme, the novel is also an incisive take on the film industry, celebrity, contemporary London, old age, love and death. A powerful exploration into the underbelly of human existence, it is peppered with musings on love and self-expression: ‘The more difficult love is, the more it is love. Isn’t that right?’ ‘Thoughts unconverted into words can become monsters, like heavy metal in your head.’ Some may find Kureishi’s deft prose a little too explicit, especially around physical attraction – but it’s just not his style to sweep such things under the carpet. A masterpiece.
Elizabeth Fitzherbert
COFFEE TABLE BOOK
BOTANICAL SHAKESPEARE: An Illustrated Compendium by Gerit Quealy and Sumié Hasegawa-Collins (Harper Design, £17.99)Shakespeare’s work is strewn with references to many species of plants – his botanical knowledge combined with his philosophical insight produced some of the most memorable lines in literature. The Bard’s fascination with botany is well documented in this exquisitely illustrated collection, featuring more than 170 plants and flowers alongside quotations from his work, bringing to life this parallel world.
Dame Helen Mirren leads the charge in her introduction, paying tribute to ‘the marriage of Shakespeare’s words about plants and the plants themselves’, while quotes (there are more than 25 relating to apples and, surprisingly, only three for hemlock) sit beautifully alongside intricate sketches. An absolute delight, this beautiful book will appeal to Shakespeare enthusiasts and horticulturalists alike. EF
PAPERBACKS
A GODDESS IN THE STONES: Travels in India by Norman Lewis (Eland Publishing, 12.99)Raised by spiritualist parents and eccentric aunts in Wales who baked cakes for the jackdaws in their garden, travel writer Norman Lewis (1908- 2003) developed a keen eye for the strange and curious. A Goddess in the Stones, first published in 1991, takes the reader on a journey to remote regions of India inhabited by primitive tribes largely untouched by the modern world: from the Koya people, whose men (rather like French President Macron) prefer much older wives, to the naked Munda tribe who, with bow and arrow, casually shoot individuals who annoy them, to ‘pretty, untouchable girls’ living in ‘woven-beehive huts’ in Andhra Pradesh. At times disturbing – ‘alcohol-crazed elephants’, ‘beaten child brides’ and monkey spiced with peppery red ants for dinner – this entertaining book is packed with peculiar, fascinating details. Rebecca Wallersteiner
THE COMFORT OF OTHERS by Kay Langdale (Hodder & Stoughton, £8.99)
Told from the perspective of two characters, this deeply affecting novel intertwines an elderly woman’s past secrets with the private sorrow of an 11-year-old boy, as each of them is isolated within their own world, though living in close proximity. Minnie resides in a country house stranded in the middle of a housing estate, and Max lives across the road. They acknowledge each other from their windows, and Max observes Minnie from a distance, until an unlikely friendship develops, helping them heal their pain and lay to rest the ghosts from the past. Written in a straightforward style, the narrative successfully jumps between flashbacks to postwar Britain and the summer of 2014. Heartbreaking in its childlike prose and reflections on a stolen innocence, this is a slow burner that packs a punch. Lyndsy Spence
THE LADY’S RECIPE READS
Inspiring recipes for going veggie, or cooking with ethically sourced meat. By Juanita Coulson
THE HAIRY DIETERS GO VEGGIE by Si King and Dave Myers (Orion, £14.99)
Ssi king and Dave Myers, aka TV’s culinary double-act The Hairy Bikers, are a refreshing alternative to today’s earnest food bloggers. Their blend of cheeky humour and no-nonsense great cooking has won them millions of fans. Their latest book series, The Hairy Dieters Go Veggie, takes the sacrificial out of slimming, showing that you can lose weight with food you enjoy. You’d think the Sunday-roast- loving authors would be unlikely candidates to go veggie; you’ll be surprised. In their quest for better health, they are eating less meat. So they bring us recipes where ‘vegetables, pulses and other plant foods are the star of the show’. They’ve even consulted a nutritionist
CARNE: Meat Recipes from The American Academy in Rome by Christopher Behr, photography by Annie Schlechter (Little Bookroom, £13.99)
If you are not willing to give up meat, but care about animal welfare, provenance and sustainability, you will love this book. It is part of a series documenting the activities of the rome sustainable Food Project, which feeds members of the American Academy in rome using local, seasonal produce. While the Academy’s daily menu is mostly vegetarian, executive chef Chris Behr is passionate about meat – provided it is produced ethically and sustainably. His recipes draw on his Italian-American roots and range from roman-style stewed chicken to pickled green tomatoes with garlic, hot pepper and mint..
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