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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Should We Fall Behind by Sharon Duggal
Engrossing commentary on the woeful state of the nation
MAKING LINKS: Sharon Duggal
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
New releases from Javon Jackson, IZE Trio, and Mal Waldron Trio
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
SHARON DUGGAL’S captivating debut novel The Handsworth Times was so successful because of its precise detailing of place and time.
For her second book, the author shows true creativity in doing quite the opposite but with equal success.
From the working-class south Asian community in Birmingham facing endemic racism in the 1980s in The Handsworth Times, Duggal shifts location to a nameless but vaguely contemporary city somewhere in England.
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