The New World: Beyond Treasure Island by Andrew Motion (Vintage, £8.99)
This follow-up to his highly successful Silver, Motion’s nod to Stevenson’s classic, continues his modernising approach, with Natty Silver, the daughter of Long John Silver, getting equal billing with Jim Hawkins. Natty is a suitably feisty young woman and the sequel works just as well as before, this time a pacey adventure set amongst Native Americans.
Beyond The Pale: White Women, Racism and History by Vron Ware (Verso, £11.99)
Ware’s excellent book homes in on the different experiences of white women and black women with regards to feminism, and with a particular focus on imperialism (‘Britannia’s Other Daughters’ is a particularly informative section). Questions of identity and individual freedom emerge from very different bases, as she shows in this sophisticated history. Essential reading.
Literary Lunch (Vintage, £9.99)
The high price of an 81-page book presumably reflects the star quality of the writers assembled for this extremely short collection, if not their recipes. The likes of Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie, Sebastian Faulks and Susan Hill (a bit of an imbalance in its twelve men to five women ratio) offer recipes from a meal in one of their books.
Finding Home: Real Stories from Migrant Britain by Emily Dugan (Icon Books, £12.99)
As Dugan says in her introduction, she keeps herself out the story as she travels with all kinds of immigrants to and around Britain, recording their personal stories in their own words as much as possible. It makes for an often heart-breaking read that stresses the mess of people’s lives, and their desperation and strength, too.
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