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illSltllt‘ltTAl lilit\l\.l-\ JANE HARRIS The Observations if alrerr 0...
Jane Harris is alreath llt‘!llgi touted as the nanre to match in period fiction thi:1\ear, Her debut looks certain to lit‘ tl Stit‘t‘t‘SS alltl ii [*8le isn‘t alreath looking at a corset trusting adaptation of it. knell. it won't he long. But is the tale of 15- war—old Bess\ Buckley — a rough but spirited
’séAi‘iius iiE’A’N‘EY
District and Circle ; 9:! “' ....
In the hushed circles of the poetry set, the excitement that ushers in news of a new Seamus Heaney publication must be akin to the way Peter Jackson fans felt when they heard he was remaking King Kong or how Radiohead buffs must be tingling right now as their icons get set to unleash the latest ‘project‘ upon us. Some fans are like that. And so the acolytes of Famous Seamus have been withering away without any new material from the Derry poet since 2001's Electric Light. The wait has been
worth it.
With the release of his new collection comes a reissue of his 1966 debut. Death of a Naturalist. with its vivid evocation of rural boyhood life. but his new work, while still heavily infused with the tiny moments and the glimpses of happiness and sadness that make life (and death) what it is, takes in the bigger picture. It's there in the title. District and Circle: the local and the global. So, in Heaney’s universe, the stare of a collie and the slow forging of an anvil can sit at ease next to creeping environmental catastrophes and the burning memories of the London bombings.
With delicate and delightful skill, this most humble of artists retains the power to move and energise without being overly-populist or getting bogged down in the stylistic mire of other practitioners. For services in making poetry a popular literary form, you could say he deserves a Nobel prize; except they gave him one of those a decade ago. (Brian Donaldson)
lilth centun. lr'ish girl .‘.hn falls into ernplo,nterit as a ser‘.ant while escaping to Eriinhur'gh trcni hc-r utili. past in Glasgox'; — antthrng more than departure lounge genre ltltltlt‘l ,\ ll IS a Sitl‘fi.” starter. hut sticking ‘.'.'llll rt through all Vol.1 pages ‘.'.’|l| leaxe you satisfied on many lexels.
\"here Bessy 's inst- person tlralect initially appears trite. the reader t—?\'t}llitldl|t warms to her subtle. character- fortrfying turn of poetic
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phrase. '.'.’llll€ Harris fOrthrrght-when- necessary tale of obsessive ladies of the
house and mysteriously disappearing servant girls builds to an EICLCOSSIUI‘, page-turning pace throughout. A wrnner on the page then, as it surel, ‘.‘/l” he at the tills.
iDawd Pollocki
CHICK LIT KATHY LETTE How to Kill
Your Husband Simon 8 Schusterr 0
Kathy Lette was a pioneer of sorts once, Mao Cows and Foetal
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by a corl lllll"l(3l mystery illtill‘ln‘i The li/r/t'ilrl of OJ scan like a fly—on-the wall documentary. The story's conclusion comes in such an unsatisfying. coincidental ‘rxag, that there's little room to feel toy for our heroines. This tale may be tired but not half as hushed as was once I finished it.
llvlark Rollertsonr
SOCI/‘Xl DRAMA VAL LEWTON No Bed of Her Own iKingly R(:l)ll(:‘.’(:l 0...
Some girls do some girls don't. some girls need a lot of losing and some girls won't. ln the bitter ‘.‘.’llll‘.:f of 1931 ‘.‘/llftll Rose Mahoney loses her typing pool JUt) in a Depression-era (l()‘.‘lllSl/(3 and soon frnrls herself at the mercy of cads. cards and the interminable cold. Val Lexxton's novel from l932 slipped off the radar in the latter part of the 20th century. which is a sharrie because it's an absolute gent.
Better known as the head of RKO's horror unit and resoonSIble fer CiaESlCS such as The Cat People and isle of the
N0 Bed Ol Her Own
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ALSO PUBLISHED
Jenny Diski On Trying to Keep Still She may be an unwilling traveller but this tome contains her own muSings about wandering from Lapland to Somerset. Little. Brown.
William Queen Under and Alone The Subtitle tells you all you need to know: ‘The True StOry of the Undercover Agent Who Infiltrated America's Most Violent Outlaw Motorcycle Gang.’ Mainstream.
Chris Petit The Passenger The sometime filmmaker turns his attention to the Lockerbie Bombing for the subject of his latest literary thriller. Simon 8 Schuster. Michael Gardiner Escalator Short stories about 21 st century Japan comprise this debut from a Glasgow- based academic scribe. Polygon. Jonathan Raban My Holy War A selection of essays that investigate just how much the Western world has shifted Since 9/11. Picador.
"'r’z" Pix 7/2", THE LIST 31