RITA DI SANTO speaks to the exiled Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa about Two Prosecutors, his chilling study of the Stalinist purges
Latest editorial
Sci-fi reviews with Mat Coward: October 2024
From the conundrums of a parallel London to a rewilding project in rural Ireland via a disturbing post-plagues world mystery thrives
FIONA O’CONNOR is fascinated by a novel written from the perspective of a neurodivergent psychology student who falls in love
New releases from Robert Forster, Self Esteem, and Arve Henriksen
SIMON PARSONS is gripped by a psychological thriller that questions the the power of the state over vulnerable individuals
KEN COCKBURN assesses the art of Ian Hamilton Finlay for the experience of warfare it incited and represents
The bard gives us advance notice of his upcoming medieval K-pop releases
GORDON PARSONS steps warily through the pessimistic world view of an influential US conservative
I’M NOT sure the Guild of Literary Critics include it in their list of approved descriptions, but really, “gorgeous” is the only word that makes sense of Alan Moore’s The Great When (Bloomsbury, £20).
It’s one of those lavish cakes of a book which is so full of plums — hilarious and horrific, touching and obscene, surreal and familiar — that you can’t help gorging yourself on it.
It belongs to the small but much-loved subgenre of “hidden London” fantasies, in which another version of the city overlaps or intersects with the one we know.
More from this author
MAT COWARD tells the story of Edward Maxted, whose preaching of socialism led to a ‘peasants’ revolt’ in the weeks running up to the first world war
Reasonable radicalism, death in Abu Dhabi, locked-room romance, and sleuthing in the Blitz
Edinburgh can take great pride in an episode of its history where a murderous captain of the city guard was brought to justice by a righteous crowd — and nobody snitched to Westminster in the aftermath, writes MAT COWARD
Well, MAT COWARD did, and here’s his introduction to it
Similar stories
A no-nonsense ex-Garda female cop, Scandi-noir’s newest flawed hero, the lure of Aussie gold, and unexpected decency in Silicon valley
JOHN GREEN is frustrated by an ambitious novel that stretches the imagination to breaking point
As good a crime wave as any from southern England to Manhattan, New Orleans and then south London
Steampunk Victoriana, time travel and Martian nativism