The bestselling husband-and-wife crime-writing duo – Sean French and Nicci Gerrard – choose their favourite books. Their latest thriller, "The Last Days of Kira Mullan" (Simon & Schuster, £18.99), is out this week
Jane Eyre
Charlotte Brontë, 1847
This Victorian classic about an unloved orphan growing into a woman who is free, equal and passionately loved is a gothic romance, an erotic masterpiece, a work to read when you’re young, old, and all the ages in between.
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.
Lolly Willowes
Sylvia Townsend Warner, 1926
Miss Willowes is a young spinster living with her stiflingly respectable London family when she decides to move to the countryside and discover her destiny. Which is to become a witch. Townsend Warner's debut novel is like a joyously funny and sexy hand grenade.
The Silver Chair
C.S. Lewis, 1953
The most underrated of the Narnia books, in which Eustace and Jill find themselves in Narnia on a quest for a lost prince. In some ways this is a thriller for children, brilliantly plotted, with great twists and moments of genuine terror.
The Unwomanly Face of War
Svetlana Alexievich, 1985
In WWII, Soviet women could be soldiers and pilots as well as nurses. In the 1970s, Alexievich interviewed them. The resulting tapestry of voices – old women recalling their teenage years – is overwhelming, a work of art and one of the great acts of remembrance.
Presumed Innocent
Scott Turow, 1987
A lawyer is charged with murdering a fellow lawyer with whom he was having a secret affair. The legal process is evoked with pungent authority; the plot is genuinely startling. This couldn’t be more different from our own work, but Turow’s debut is a key inspiration.
Skippy Dies
Paul Murray, 2010
A story of coming of age, sex, death, betrayal and the meaning of the universe in an Irish private school. It’s hilarious, compelling, deeply sad. How on earth does Ireland keep producing these great writers?
-
Homo Floresiensis: Earth’s real life ‘hobbits’Under the Radar New research suggests that ‘early human pioneers’ in Australia interbred with archaic species of hobbits at least 60,000 years ago
-
Homes by renowned architectsFeature Featuring a Leonard Willeke Tudor Revival in Detroit and modern John Storyk design in Woodstock
-
Looming drone ban has farmers and farm-state Republicans anxiousIN THE SPOTLIGHT As congressional China-hawks work to limit commercial drone sales from Beijing, a growing number of conservative lawmakers are sounding an agricultural alarm
-
Homes by renowned architects
Feature Featuring a Leonard Willeke Tudor Revival in Detroit and modern John Storyk design in Woodstock
-
Film reviews: ‘Hamnet,’ ‘Wake Up Dead Man’ and ‘Eternity’Feature Grief inspires Shakespeare’s greatest play, a flamboyant sleuth heads to church and a long-married couple faces a postmortem quandary
-
We Did OK, Kid: Anthony Hopkins’ candid memoir is a ‘page-turner’The Week Recommends The 87-year-old recounts his journey from ‘hopeless’ student to Oscar-winning actor
-
The Mushroom Tapes: a compelling deep dive into the trial that gripped AustraliaThe Week Recommends Acclaimed authors team up for a ‘sensitive and insightful’ examination of what led a seemingly ordinary woman to poison four people
-
‘Chess’feature Imperial Theatre, New York City
-
‘Notes on Being a Man’ by Scott Galloway and ‘Bread of Angels: A Memoir’ by Patti Smithfeature A self-help guide for lonely young men and a new memoir from the godmother of punk
-
6 homes built in the 1700sFeature Featuring a restored Federal-style estate in Virginia and quaint farm in Connecticut
-
Film reviews: 'Wicked: For Good' and 'Rental Family'Feature Glinda the Good is forced to choose sides and an actor takes work filling holes in strangers' lives
