MARJORIE MAYO recommends an accessible and unsettling novel that uses a true incident of death in the Channel to raise questions of wider moral responsibility
The wacky world of the Middle Ages
MADELEINE S KILLACKY admires a deeply researched book that takes you on a romp through the Middle Ages
An image from the Codex Manesse (c. 1304), an anthology poetry and songs. The literary works are preceded by a portrait of their author, in this case Reinmar II von Brennberg. It is unclear why this illustration was picked to represent Reinmar but his status as a ministerialis, an unfree noble elevated from the peasant class, could have been a factor.
MIK SABIERS wallows in a night of political punk and funk that fires both barrels at Trump
Reasonable radicalism, death in Abu Dhabi, locked-room romance, and sleuthing in the Blitz
SIMON DUFF recommends a new album from renowned composer and oud player Anour Brahem.
JAMES WALSH has a great night in the company of basketball players, quantum physicists and the exquisite timing of Rosie Jones
A New Awakening: Adventures In British Jazz 1966 - 1971, G3, and Buck Owens
JAMES WALSH is moved by an exhibition of graphic art that relates horrors that would be much less immediate in other media
Weird Medieval Guys
Olivia Swarthout, Square Peg, £16.99
PACKED full of satire, stunning imagery and interactive maps and quizzes, Weird Medieval Guys is a deep dive into some of the most extraordinary – and quirky – aspects of medieval daily life. This little book, which should appeal to older children as well as adults, is split into two parts: The Struggle: Surviving Life, Love, and Death, and The Bestiary.
Weird Medieval Guys is a riot, packed full of brilliant medieval facts. Its author, Olivia Swarthout, has been creative in using quizzes and puzzles to engage readers who might like history but don’t get on with dense scholarly texts in the wonderful, wacky world that is the Middle Ages.
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