Book of the week: Black Gold by Jeremy Paxman

Paxman’s history of coal is told with ‘characteristic panache’

Miners pictured after their last shift at Kellingley Colliery, the UK's last deep coal mine, on 18 December 2015 in Knottingley, England
Miners pictured after their last shift at Kellingley Colliery, the UK's last deep coal mine
(Image credit: Oli Scarff/WPA Pool/Getty Images)

“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.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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.

Sign up