The author of the Women's Prize-winning "A Girl is a Half-formed Thing" chooses her six favourites. Her latest novel, "The City Changes Its Face" – a love story set in 1990s London – is published this week.
The Transylvanian Trilogy
Miklós Bánffy, 1934-1940
A cross between Proust and Tolstoy, this is the story of a doomed love affair and a doomed artist in the last years of the doomed Habsburg empire. A compulsively readable "Oh, how we fiddled while Rome burned" epic.
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.
Time and Tide
Edna O'Brien, 1992
This is another gem, among a number of under-appreciated novels waiting to be rediscovered, in the author's back catalogue. There's a great deal of sadness in it, but the lyric beauty of Edna O'Brien's prose radiates through and wards off sentimentality.
Year of the King: An Actor's Diary and Sketchbook
Antony Sher, 1985
An utterly brilliant piece of theatre writing from the one of the greatest Shakespearian actors of the past century, sharing insights into, and detailing the preparations for, his landmark performance of Richard III.
The Quest for Christa T.
Christa Wolf, 1968
A fragmented, wrenching, experimental novel in which a woman reconstructs her friend's life after her early death. But not only. It's also an exploration of the ills of Germany, from the Second World War up to the GDR in the 1960s.
Dracula
Bram Stoker, 1897
This doesn't really need an introduction, but it was my teenage introduction to the wonderful world of Irish gothic fiction and I've been dabbling in it ever since. Sex, death, foreign travel, corsets and vampires – what else does a novel need?
Resurrection
Leo Tolstoy, 1899
While also containing sex and corsets, this is quite different and one of Tolstoy's finest. An attack on hypocrisy, the abuse of power and injustice, it was a personal exorcism of sorts for the writer himself and remains a profoundly moving read.
-
Trump vs. states: Who gets to regulate AI?Feature Trump launched a task force to challenge state laws on artificial intelligence, but regulation of the technology is under unclear jurisdiction
-
Decking the hallsFeature Americans’ love of holiday decorations has turned Christmas from a humble affair to a sparkly spectacle.
-
Whiskey tariffs cause major problems for American distillersIn the Spotlight Jim Beam is the latest brand to feel the pain
-
The best homes of the yearFeature Featuring a former helicopter engine repair workshop in Washington, D.C. and high-rise living in San Francisco
-
Critics’ choice: The year’s top 10 moviesFeature ‘One Battle After Another’ and ‘It Was Just an Accident’ stand out
-
A luxury walking tour in Western AustraliaThe Week Recommends Walk through an ‘ancient forest’ and listen to the ‘gentle hushing’ of the upper canopy
-
Joanna Trollope: novelist who had a No. 1 bestseller with The Rector’s WifeIn the Spotlight Trollope found fame with intelligent novels about the dramas and dilemmas of modern women
-
Appetites now: 2025 in food trendsFeature From dining alone to matcha mania to milk’s comeback
-
Man vs Baby: Rowan Atkinson stars in an accidental adoption comedyTalking Point Sequel to Man vs Bee is ‘nauseatingly schmaltzy’
-
Goodbye June: Kate Winslet’s directorial debut divides criticsTalking Point Helen Mirren stars as the terminally ill English matriarch in this sentimental festive heartwarmer
-
A Christmas Carol (or two)The Week Recommends These are the most delightful retellings of the Dickens classic from around the country
