JOHN GREEN surveys the remarkable career of screenwriter Malcolm Hulke and the essential part played by his membership of the Communist Party
The right to write
REBECCA LOWE admires a complex, multi-layered working-class novel whose heart is the writer's self-discovery as a poet
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Last Breath, Sister Midnight, Opus, and The Electric State
HENRY BELL is moved by the account of scientists under seige in Leningrad who preferred to starve rather than sacrifice their life-saving work
RUTH AYLETT recommends two anthologies: one that bears witness to refugee and immigrant experiences, and the other to our political relationship to water
SETH SANDRONSKY appreciates a fresh take on a 100-year-old novel that helps to contextualise the current moment of conspicuous wealth, waste and climate chaos
A no-nonsense ex-Garda female cop, Scandi-noir’s newest flawed hero, the lure of Aussie gold, and unexpected decency in Silicon valley
JAN WOOLF doubts that soft-core musical is the best way to transmit an important story of heroism and resistance
The Crazy Truth
Gemma June Howell, Seren, £9.99
THE CRAZY TRUTH is a working-class novel that remains true to its roots — unflinchingly honest to the point of brutal, yet also touching, funny, human and ultimately uplifting.
It tells the story of Girlo Wolf, born in 1984 into a world of pickets and poverty. Struggling with her mental health and the backlash of childhood trauma, she falls into a dark underworld of sex, drugs and alcohol. Driven by the stories of home, she finds freedom in writing and strives to become a poet, discovering that her words are a route to recovery and survivorhood.
Spanning four decades, Girlo’s story is interwoven with those of her mother and grandmother, making this a powerful tribute to the intergenerational struggles of working-class people.
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The phrase “cruel to be kind” comes from Hamlet, but Shakespeare’s Prince didn’t go in for kidnap, explosive punches, and cigarette deprivation. Tam is different.
ANGUS REID deconstructs a popular contemporary novel aimed at a ‘queer’ young adult readership
A landmark work of gay ethnography, an avant-garde fusion of folk and modernity, and a chance comment in a great interview
ANGUS REID applauds the inventive stagecraft with which the Lyceum serve up Stevenson’s classic, but misses the deeper themes
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With most of recorded history dominated by the voices of men, LYNNE WALSH encourages sisters to read the memoirs of women – and to write their own too
RON JACOBS reviews a new biography of the American poet who revolutionised the perception of black writers in the creative milieu of the day
HARRY GALLAGHER relishes a poet who bares her soul under a microscope’s lens
From Argentina, a novel by Federico Falco and a collection of chronicles by Hebe Uhart; and poetry by Belarusian-Argentinean Natalia Litvinova, and Chilean Vicente Huidobro