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The US author on his early love of Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, the genius of Judy Blume, and finding perfection in Agatha Christie and Gustave Flaubert ...

The humanist historian brings objects to life beautifully, but falters when it comes to people and their beliefs ...

A mother reflects on the breakdown of her marriage as she attends her daughter's wedding, in a novella that brilliantly depicts family dynamics ...

In his account of postwar childhood and literary success, the novelist hints at pain he is unable to address directly ...

This luminous and tender 20th-century saga of wounded souls and small-town secrets has a deep melancholy ...

The 12 contenders for this year's £50,000 nonfiction prize also include Lyse Doucet, Justin Marozzi, Frances Wilson, Adam LeBor and the Guardian's Jason Burke ...

Was the 'western alliance' dreamt up to further American and British interests? Georgios Varouxakis argues that the idea is older, quintessentially European, and even anti-imperialist ...

Though audaciously told, this portrait of a young woman's twisty journey from Zimbabwe to Brighton doesn't quite hang together ...

Looking for a new reading recommendation? Here are some wonderful new paperbacks, from a must-read graphic history to a tale of lost love ...

Troubled by a photo of her grandmother living it up in Mussolini's Italy, the author of Free delves into archive and memory to uncover the truth ...