CATHERINE STEEL relishes a compelling novel about Augustus’s right hand man, but misses the politics, the cultural shifts, and more detail about his restoration of Rome
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Courage in adversity
MARY CONWAY recommends a compelling and complex story of one Iraqi family, held together by their Jewish heritage
Or Yehuda memorial, in Tel Aviv, dedicated to the 9 Jews executed – altgether 14 were executed in public for alleged spiying for Israel including three Muslims and two Christians in Baghdad in 1969
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TONY BURKE speaks to JOEL McIVER, co-author of the biography of bluesman John Mayall
A misfit couple unhappily ever after, a dead man walking, dodgy journos, and trench art trucking
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PAUL DONOVAN applauds an intriguing multi-layered depiction, dominated by a stunning impersonation of Marilyn herself
EWAN CAMERON marvels at the impossible ambition, realised with dreamlike finesse of translating Italo Calvino to the stage
Um-Kamal
By Fawzi Ibrahim
KFI Publishing £11.99
IRAQ, throughout history, has been a source of wonder: the cradle of civilisation, the inspiration for the Garden of Eden while, in recent times, a stain on the collective conscience of the thinking West.
But what is it really like to live there?
Fawzi Ibrahim’s debut novel is a unique insight. Starting in 1948 and seen from this century, it brings us the compelling and complex story of one Iraqi family, held together by their Jewish origin and the steadfast, unwavering strength of a mother so purposeful that she pits her simple family loyalty against a military-controlled, hostile, anti-Jewish state.
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