Boy from the Valleys: My Unexpected Journey
Luke Evans
Ebury Spotlight, £22, pp316
Luke Evans may justly be regarded as one of Britain’s most versatile and interesting actors on stage and screen alike, but in this unusually affecting and original memoir he recounts his upbringing as a youthful Jehovah’s Witness in the 80s, when his faith was compromised by his, and his family’s, growing awareness of his homosexuality. There is plenty of showbiz gossip later in the book, and Evans writes insightfully about being “the first openly gay action hero”, but it’s the quiet poignancy of the earlier chapters that lingers.
The Wood at Midwinter
Susanna Clarke
Bloomsbury Circus, £9.99, pp64
Given that Piranesi, the follow-up to Susanna Clarke’s masterly Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, took 16 years to appear, the relatively swift appearance of her novella The Wood at Midwinter four years later is to be celebrated. (An earlier version was broadcast on Radio 4 in 2022.) Rich in atmospheric detail and beautiful writing, and benefiting from Victoria Sawdon’s stunning illustrations, this haunting tale of Merowdis, a 19-year-old girl who finds rather more than she has bargained for in the woods, confirms Clarke’s brilliance at storytelling, even in miniature form.
A Bird in Winter
Louise Doughty
Faber & Faber, £9.99, pp368 (paperback)
Recent spy fiction has been dominated by the male-centric likes of Herron and Harkaway, so it’s a great relief to turn to Louise Doughty’s effortlessly riveting new novel for a story less soaked in machismo. The protagonist – Heather, AKA Bird – is a secret service operative who one day abandons her job for a life on the run. As the narrative moves inexorably from Birmingham and Scotland to Norway and Iceland, Doughty blends teeth-gritting tension with some well-evoked meditations on what security and domesticity can ever really mean to a spy.
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