Book of the week: Black Gold by Jeremy Paxman
Paxman’s history of coal is told with ‘characteristic panache’

“It is still, in 2021, a brave step for a woman to speak openly about choosing not to continue a pregnancy,” said Laura Hackett in The Sunday Times. Lucy Burns should be applauded, then: in this “visceral”, beautifully written memoir, the 31-year-old lays bare the agonised consequences of an abortion she had in 2017.
The procedure itself is described in “graphic and shocking detail”. But what happened next was almost worse: after developing worrying physical symptoms, Burns was treated humiliatingly by medical professionals – and coldly by her employers. Written in a “fragmented style” that moves between her perspective and others’, the “book becomes a kind of whodunit” which asks: “Who is to blame for how horrible this is?”
Like many women who have had abortions, Burns was besieged by contradictory feelings, said Lucy Scholes in The Daily Telegraph. She knew, intellectually, that what she did was necessary, yet still experienced a “maelstrom” of emotions: guilt, confusion, regret. Although her book is not an easy read, it excels in “portraying the flipside of what it means to embrace the notion of individual choice”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Chatto 240pp £10.99; The Week Bookshop £8.99
The Week Bookshop
To order this title or any other book in print, visit theweekbookshop.co.uk, or speak to a bookseller on 020-3176 3835. Opening times: Monday to Saturday 9am-5.30pm and Sunday 10am-4pm.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
August 23 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include deficit dimness, steamroller-in-chief, and more
-
5 museum-grade cartoons about Trump's Smithsonian purge
Cartoons Artists take on institutional rebranding, exhibit interpretation, and more
-
Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?
In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
-
Ford Ranger Plug-in Hybrid: 'more than just a novelty'
The Week Recommends Europe's first plug-in hybrid pickup is 'surprisingly agile'
-
6 lush homes in the trees
Feature Featuring a glass house in Texas and a home built for a Broncos quarterback in Colorado
-
Brooklyn vs. the Beckhams: trouble in paradise
In the Spotlight Scion of the Beckham clan and billionaire heiress wife Nicola Peltz staged an elaborate vow renewal – and none of his family were on the guest list
-
Alien: Earth – a 'bold' prequel to the space horror classic
The Week Recommends Set two years before Alien, new Disney show pays 'homage' to the original
-
Music reviews: Ethel Cain, Amaarae, and The Black Keys
Feature "Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You," "Black Star," and "No Rain, No Flowers"
-
Film reviews: Highest 2 Lowest and Weapons
Feature A kidnapping threatens a mogul's legacy and a town spins into madness after 17 children disappear
-
Book reviews: 'King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution' and 'Gwyneth: The Biography'
Feature How the Iranian Revolution began and Gwyneth Paltrow's life in the spotlight
-
Garrett Graff's 6 favorite books that shine new light on World War II
Feature The author recommends works by James D. Hornfischer, Craig L. Symonds, and more