GORDON PARSONS recommends an entertaining account of the years between Germany’s defeat in WWI and Hitler’s seizure of power
BOOKS
When a debut novel attracts the level of attention that Leaving The Atocha Station (Granta, £7.99) has, some may approach it with caution or cynicism. But Ben Lerner's instinctive and invigorating narrative does not disappoint.
The book is named after a poem by John Ashbery who, alongside Lorca, is quite literally carried throughout the novel in protagonist Adam Gordon's bag.
JOHN CALLOW introduces the work of Geoffrey Trease, who placed ordinary people at the centre of his historical fiction for children, creating adventurous stories to inspire the possibilities of social change
FIONA O’CONNOR questions the achievement of this year’s Orwell prize winner for political fiction
ALAN McGUIRE welcomes a biography of the French semiologist and philosopher



