Books
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Obsessed with murder, how the creator of The Talented Mr Ripley came close to committing the crime herself
In June 1952 – two years before she started to write The Talented Mr Ripley – Patricia Highsmith had a…
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Answering violence with art: Salman Rushdie’s response to the knife attack that almost killed him
Salman Rushdie called it his “unfunny Valentine”. On 14 February 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s supreme leader, issued a fatwa calling…
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For her many critics, arresting JK Rowling wouldn’t have made her anti-trans comments any less harmful
Arrest me,” wrote JK Rowling, at 11.45am on 1 April 2024. Despite the date, this was no April Fool’s prank.…
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Salman Rushdie, Knife review: Author’s moving, sardonic memoir is not for the squeamish
Salman Rushdie’s Knife is not for the squeamish. Describing in detail the horrific attack by Hadi Matar on 12 August…
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Anna May Wong and the mystery of Hollywood’s first Chinese-American star: ‘They wanted to tear her apart!’
Anna May Wong was Hollywood’s first Chinese-American star, a gifted actor who refused to allow racism and sexism to stymie…
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Carrie at 50: the bloody history of Stephen King’s audacious debut novel
Unfortunately, I came of age during the “sexy Halloween” era. The annual festival of all things frightening was becoming gaudier,…
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‘Murder is a kind of making love’: The strange life of Patricia Highsmith, the author behind The Talented Mr Ripley
No one wrote antiheroes like Patricia Highsmith. Take Tom Ripley, the “suave, agreeable, and utterly amoral” conman protagonist of her…
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Costa-award winning novelist Christie Watson: ‘I’m doing a form of literary whistleblowing about the NHS’
Whenever a former medic turns typist, and becomes intent on lifting the lid of what really happens on hospital wards…
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Fernanda Eberstadt’s latest book is a masterclass in how to live an ‘outrageous’ life
In New York, every new generation reinvents the city. In the Fifties, Manhattan was all about Ginsberg, Kerouac and the…
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Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s last novel raises important questions about posthumous agency
The big draw for the launch of the inaugural 2006 Hay Festival in Cartagena was Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Colombia’s walled…
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