Enjoy Life

Latest book reviews May 25

The pick of the latest hardbacks and paperbacks, reviewed by Simon Evans

It is 15 years since the social movement known as Woke began its long march through our institutions, only to be stopped in its tracks by the election of President Trump, The Cass Review into gender identity services and the recent Supreme Court judgment that reaffirmed ‘sex’ means ‘biological sex’ for the purposes of equality law.

In The End of Woke (Constable, £25), Andrew Doyle charts the rise and fall of this movement, which he defines as “a cultural revolution that seeks equity according to group identity by authoritarian means,” and looks at how it captured corporations, government bodies, universities and schools with astonishing ease.

Campaigners sought to impose their views through harassment, censorship, cancellation and the ending of careers, but now that the movement seems to be running out of steam, Doyle warns that any anti-Woke reaction should not fall into the same trap.

The issue for him is not the rights and wrongs of the transgender debate, gay rights, race relations or the myriad other ‘progressive’ causes, but the way in which the debate is framed. The real struggle, Doyle argues, is not between right and left, gender critical or trans or any of the other political and social binaries that afflict our society but between freedom of speech and authoritarianism. It’s a battle that is still being fought.

In Heatwave (Monoray, £18.99) John L Williams documents the scorching summer of 1976, when the thermometers hit the high 30s and for three months the nation went a little bit mad.

It was the summer of Tina Charles’ I Love To Love, ABBA’s Dancing Queen, Seaside Special, England getting hammered at cricket by the West Indies, Sue Barker capturing our hearts at Wimbledon and young Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci beguiling the world at the Montreal Olympics.

As well as documenting the key personalities, cultural moments and headline events, Williams also captures the febrile atmosphere of the time, with riots in the inner cities and the rise of the National Front contributing to a tinder box of social tensions just waiting to explode as the thermometer continued to rise…

The child of parents who were both involved in the American film industry – his father was a ‘super agent’, his mother a screen writer – Matthew Specktor had a ringside seat for the massive changes that have taken place in Hollywood over the past half century. His excellent book The Golden Hour (Ecco, £28) is part vivid personal memoir, part coruscating analysis of an industry that can be both ruthless and unforgiving, as his family often found out to its cost…

In advance of the Oasis reunion tour this summer, Gallagher, by PJ Harrison (Sphere, £18.75) looks at the respective solo careers of the warring brothers of that name, Noel’s willingness to experiment often seeing him lagging behind his lesser talented, but more commercially-attuned, sibling, Liam…

Following on from the recent VE Day celebrations, Victory ‘45, by James Holland and Al Murray (Bantam, £22), tells the story of the extraordinary summer when the Second World War drew to a close, with eight surrenders – six in Europe and two in Japan – heralding the Allied victory. It tells the stories of the surrenders, the negotiations that took place, and how they determined the futures of both the countries involved and the wider world. And newly reissued by August Books (£12.99) is The Longest Night, Gavin Mortimer’s gripping minute-by-minute account of the night of May 10-11, 1941, when The Blitz was at its height and 1486 Londoners were killed in a matter of hours…

Shocking truths are revealed when Nellie Castle’s youngest son Bert faces the woman who tried to kill him in The Dover Café on Trial, by Ginny Ball (Zaffre, £8.99), the fifth in the much-loved wartime-set series. As the case progresses Bert is faced with a harrowing realisation – has his whole life been a lie?…

The Archers: Victory at Ambridge, by Catherine Miller (Simon and Schuster, £9.99) is a wartime-set spin-off from the long-running serial, and focuses on a visiting academic who, intrigued by a local myth, sets out to uncover prophecies said to be hidden around the area. Meanwhile, with the war soon to end, the village has to come to terms with the knowledge that life will never be quite the same again…

Drawing on years of research, Vladislav Zubok’s The World of the Cold War 1945-1991 (Pelican, £25) provides a new, in-depth perspective on the conflict between East and West that defined the post-war years. He traces the origins of the Cold War, the decades of confrontation that followed, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the repercussions that are still being felt today…

Riots and Rebels, by Nick Rennison (Oldcastle, £16.99) traces the history of popular protest in Britain, from the Peasants’ Revolt through to Extinction Rebellion, and in Postal Paths (Monorail, £22), Alan Cleaver rediscovers Britain’s forgotten trails and tells the stories of the men and women posties who walked them, delivering mail to the remotest of communities…

No One Got Cracked Over The Head for No Reason, (Biteback, £10.99), is Sky News crime correspondent Martin Brunt’s account of some of the most shocking and intriguing stories he has covered over the past 30 years, from Fred and Rose West to the ‘Diamond Wheezers’. And in London Clubland (Robinson, £25), Seth Alexander Thevoz provides a fascinating guide to the capital’s private members clubs, from the quirky application processes, often archaic etiquette rules and eccentric traditions to the many personalities who have frequented these clubs, both old and new…

From Jill Johnson, best-selling author of Devil’s Breath, comes Bella Donna (Black and White Publishing, £16.99), the latest instalment of the highly original Professor Eustacia Rose mysteries. Eustacia’s hopes of settling down at last are thwarted when a murder case comes along where the victim was poisoned with Hemlock, and it’s too much for the Professor to resist, even though the stakes couldn’t be higher…

The Impossible Journey (Robinson, £25) is the remarkable story of how Thor Pedersen became the first person to reach every country on earth without using an aeroplane. The quest took him ten years and drove Thor to the brink of sanity and financial ruin, testing even his closest relationships. It’s an amazing adventure. And in Where Angels Fear to Tread (HarperCollins, £20), Sally Becker tells of visiting some of the most dangerous places in the world working as a humanitarian aid worker. Sally has helped children in Bosnia, Iraq, Ukraine, and Gaza and her story is at once harrowing and inspirational…

Revenge of Rome (Headline, £9.99) is the latest in Simon Scarrow’s Eagles of the Empire series, following the adventures of Roman army heroes Cato and Macro. This latest instalment finds the intrepid duo tasked with hunting down the remnants of Boudica’s rebel army and hungry for revenge. And The Lost Lover, by Karen Swan (Pan, £9.99) is the third in the evocative Wild Isle series, set on the windswept Scottish island of St Kida. This instalment follows the adventures of young Flora McQueen, who discovers that dreams of romance and adventure can come at a high price…

Many important works of art have been created by artists who embarked on journeys in search of beauty and meaning, and in Artists’ Journeys that Shaped Our World (White Lion, £14.99), Travis Elborough looks at the stories behind the creation of such celebrated works as Katsushika Hokusai’s woodblock prints of Mount Fuji in Japan, Marianne North’s paintings of India, and David Hockney’s California pool scenes…

Following on from her ground-breaking series of books on Tudor history comes Alison Weir’s novel The Cardinal (Headline, £25) based on the life of Cardinal Wolsey. The novel focuses on the dual lives of Wolsey, both public and private, wealthy and humble, showcasing his extraordinary rise from son of a Suffolk tradesman to one of the most powerful people in the land, while also charting his subsequent downfall, falling out of favour with the king he had once called a friend…

Master crime writer Michael Connelly’s new novel Nightshade (Orion, £22) introduces Los Angeles detective Stilwell, who, exiled to a low-key post on rustic Catalina Island, finds himself involved in a murder investigation and uncovering closely guarded secrets. Last Orders (Bantam, £18.99) is the final novel from Denzil Meyrock, who died earlier this year. It features the return of DCI Daley, who, aided by his old friend Brian Scott, must fight to clear his name after being arrested for murder. And in More Than Murder, by Jayne Chard (Chapters, £8.99), two estranged sisters try to rebuild their relationship at a murder mystery weekend, but the intrigue turns deadly when they stumble upon a real corpse. Jayne produced the 2024 season of Silent Witness and clearly knows all about crafting a nail-biting thriller…

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