The Latest Breaking News from Anne Tyler

Swallowed hearing aids, origami obsessives and a husband who’s a former MI6 agent ... Standard Deviation author Katherine Heiny isn’t short of inspiration, so why did it take 25 years to get her writing career off the ground?

Books in brief

I should not worry so much, because reading slumps come and go. But every time one comes, I worry that it won't ever go. What if I've permanently lost my ability to concentrate? This is certainly possible, in this age of ever-distracting social media.

Pandemics force us to face our mortality, prompting profound questions about life’s meaning. It is not surprising, therefore, that since the days of medieval plague outbreaks, infectious diseases have attracted the imagination of novelists. These stories operate as cautionary tales, holding humanity to account.