I reviewed Whale Fall, Elizabeth O' Connor's, visceral, politically-engaged novel set on a remote island off the Welsh coast in 1938, for the Guardian

My Substack essay for March is a piece about the pleasures and perils of having a favourite writer, through the prism of Hanif Kureishi's novella, The Nothing. Read Épater La Bourgeoisie for free here

Here's my take on Adelle Waldman's new novel, Help Wanted, her follow up to the sparkling The Love Affairs of Nathanial P from 2013, in the TLS

I reviewed Fervour, Toby Lloyd's debut novel of religious obsession and family implosion, in the Guardian

A second Substack post from me: Thanks, I'll Take the Chair, a personal essay from a couple of years ago about therapy, trauma, and never giving up on writing. It was first published in the excellent Dodo Ink anthology Trauma: Essays on Art and Mental Health (2021). Read it for free here

No one does love songs in age better than Howard Jacobson. Here's my verdict on his new novel, What Will Survive of Us, in the Literary Review

I loved Ruvani Ranasinha's Hanif Kureishi: Writing the Self, one of the best biographies of last year (or any year). Here's my review in the Spectator