Emerald Fennell, who won an Oscar for her screenplay for Promising Young Woman, will be speaking at the Hay Festival Winter Weekend on 28 November.
Giving up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel (2003)
Hilary Mantel is one of those impossible, once-in-a-lifetime visionaries. She feels like she’s descended from William Blake, or a medieval anchorite. Her horror writing is peerless, and there is nothing quite so harrowingly visceral as her memoir.
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.
Fourth Estate £8.99; The Week Bookshop £6.99
The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous by Jilly Cooper (1991)
Jilly Cooper’s bucolic world of picturesque cottages, adorable dogs and hardcore bonking cannot be beaten. Kind-hearted serial-shagger Lysander Hawkley is one of the best in her irresistible rogues’ gallery.
Corgi £10.99; The Week Bookshop £8.99
Nothing That Meets the Eye by Patricia Highsmith (2002)
Patricia Highsmith’s stories are every bit as monstrous as her novels, and this collection of unpublished stories is seething with her usual exquisite, gleeful sadism.
Bloomsbury, out of print
The Complete Lyrics: 1978-2013 by Nick Cave (2013)
I write to music, and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds are the band I most frequently listen to while I do. Cave’s lyrics are just as much a pleasure to read as they are to listen to. Gothic, violent and beautiful.
Penguin £14.99; The Week Bookshop £11.99
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
I love all of Ishiguro’s books, but this is the one that most effectively rips your heart out. A perfect story of lost love and regret. It is masterful at showing the foolishness (and, often, cruelty) that is at the heart of British restraint.
Faber £8.99; The Week Bookshop £6.99
Persuasion by Jane Austen, (1817)
“You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late.” There can’t be a single confession in all fiction more devastating than this one. Jane Austen single-handedly established the romcom as we know it – Tim and Dawn from The Office are the love-children of Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth.
Wordsworth; The Week Bookshop £4.99
-
Why quitting your job is so difficult in JapanUnder the Radar Reluctance to change job and rise of ‘proxy quitters’ is a reaction to Japan’s ‘rigid’ labour market – but there are signs of change
-
Gavin Newsom and Dr. Oz feud over fraud allegationsIn the Spotlight Newsom called Oz’s behavior ‘baseless and racist’
-
‘Admin night’: the TikTok trend turning paperwork into a partyThe Explainer Grab your friends and make a night of tackling the most boring tasks
-
The Beckhams: the feud dividing BritainIn the Spotlight ‘Civil war’ between the Beckhams and their estranged son ‘resonates’ with families across the country
-
6 homes with incredible balconiesFeature Featuring a graceful terrace above the trees in Utah and a posh wraparound in New York City
-
The Flower Bearers: a ‘visceral depiction of violence, loss and emotional destruction’The Week Recommends Rachel Eliza Griffiths’ ‘open wound of a memoir’ is also a powerful ‘love story’ and a ‘portrait of sisterhood’
-
Steal: ‘glossy’ Amazon Prime thriller starring Sophie TurnerThe Week Recommends The Game of Thrones alumna dazzles as a ‘disillusioned twentysomething’ whose life takes a dramatic turn during a financial heist
-
Anna Ancher: Painting Light – a ‘moving’ exhibitionThe Week Recommends Dulwich Picture Gallery show celebrates the Danish artist’s ‘virtuosic handling of the shifting Nordic light’
-
H is for Hawk: Claire Foy is ‘terrific’ in tender grief dramaThe Week Recommends Moving adaptation of Helen Macdonald’s bestselling memoir
-
Our Town: Michael Sheen stars in ‘beautiful’ Thornton Wilder classicThe Week Recommends Opening show at the Welsh National Theatre promises a ‘bright’ future
-
Music reviews: Zach Bryan, Dry Cleaning, and Madison BeerFeature “With Heaven on Top,” “Secret Love,” and “Locket”
