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WILL STONE fact-checks the colourful life of Ozzy Osbourne
Virgin and Child by Maggie Hamand
Gripping novel of intersex Pope pregnant with transgressive tensions
JAMES CROSSLEY applauds a lucid biography of the German radical preacher who reemerged as a hero in the GDR
Prizes all round: the Bard hands plaudits to the Miners Gala, OT&JC, Joe Solo, Black Sabbath’s frontman and the Lionesses
Star cartoonist JAMIE BRITTON is in awe of a graphic novel of epic proportions that explores class, religion and globalisation via the strange cultivation of Ginseng in the US Midwest
GUILLERMO THOMAS is intrigued by a history of the Middle East that demonstrates how promising post colonial beginnings were snuffed out by Western imperialist interests
MARIA DUARTE recommends the intricate study of a high-performance and highly dysfuntional German family
MAGGIE HAMAND'S Virgin and Child describes a brutal war zone of shifting battle lines, a clash between theoretical theologising reflecting papal power and prerogative and the messy truths of personal experience.
ACUTELY TUNED EAR: Maggie Hamand (Photo Barbican Press)
In her novel, Pope Patrick is the first Irish-born incumbent of the Roman Catholic church. A pretty mainstream pontiff, he is nevertheless already raising the hackles of the hardcore reactionaries within the hierarchy.
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An absorbing metaphor for contemporary Western societies is recommended by PAUL SIMON
PAUL SIMON falls under the spell of little known authors from an island at the edge of the world
