Written by Lauren Geall As Stylist’s digital writer, Lauren Geall writes on topics including mental health, wellbeing and work. She’s also a big fan of houseplants and likes to dabble in film and TV from time-to-time. You can find her on Twitter at @laurenjanegeall. Whether you’re interested in learning more about mental health, are looking […]

Written by Sophie Flynn This week’s Stylist short story is Still Hoping by Sophie Flynn, a tale of one woman’s fertility hopes.  The nurse is showing my husband how the injections go in, mimicking the action like an air stewardess. Press down to escape. Place your own mask first. Her flickers of movement catch the […]

REGRETS? Wish I’d had more sex… Alan Bennett’s latest diaries, written in lockdown, are mournful and witty. He is still a shy, solitary show-off – but one who in old age rues his reticence Alan Bennett, 87, has written about his experiences during the lockdown UK-based author reflects on confinement and the regrets that have […]

PSYCHO THRILLERS THE DAUGHTER by Liz Webb (Allison & Busby £16.99, 320pp) THE DAUGHTER by Liz Webb (Allison & Busby £16.99, 320pp)  Trying to mix comedy with psychological thriller-writing is risky, but Liz Webb has pulled it off with this beautifully observed, darkly funny and surprisingly tender debut. We meet messed-up 37-year-old Hannah Davidson sitting […]

Was the man who invented the movies murdered by his RIVAL? Louise Le Prince mysteriously went missing in 1888 – now Paul Fischer questions who, what and why In 1888 Louis Le Prince went missing after making the world’s first movie Paul Fischer speculates that his rival Thomas Edison had him killed by hit men […]

CLASSIC CRIME DEATH OF A BOOKSELLER by Bernard J. Farmer (British Library £9.99, 256pp) DEATH OF A BOOKSELLER  by Bernard J. Farmer (British Library £9.99, 256pp)  There are now 100 titles in the British Library Classic Crime Series, a brave publishing venture that has restored many unfairly neglected writers to the public domain. All praise […]

LITERARY FICTION SHADOW GIRLS by Carol Birch (Head of Zeus £16.99, 352pp) SHADOW GIRLS  by Carol Birch (Head of Zeus £16.99, 352pp)  The setting for Booker-shortlisted Birch’s psychological suspense novel is a girls’ school in 1960s Manchester, where 15-year-old narrator Sally is a pupil.  Yearning for freedom and chafing against the run of the mill, […]

Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share. By Amir-Hussein Radjy In April 1951, the police in Paris called on my great-grandfather, Prince Mohamed-Hussein Firouz, to identify a dead body. It was that of Sadeq Hedayat, who is today eulogized […]

We’ve all got a novel in us. Or so the saying goes. But for most people, even if you have the burning embers of an idea inside you – it can be hard to know where to start. How do you find the time, the confidence, or the structure needed to actually put pen to […]

From charm to horror, how dictators fool the world: Author examines the impact of leadership on democracy in a book about current affairs Increasingly autocratic leaders captivated when they first arrived on the scene Gideon Rachman explores how leaders can be a threat to democracy in a book  Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and President Xi are among […]