This week, Tim Lake explains why Bertie Wooster is not half the dimwit we think he is; and fiction editor Toby Lichtig introduces the novels to look out for this autumn.

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Nicola Shulman is entranced by the life of a naturalist; and Larry Wolff enjoys a night at the opera - with added superheroes.

'A year with Gilbert White: The first great nature writer', by Jenny Uglow

'The amazing adventures of Kavalier & Clay', by Mason Bates and Gene Scheer, based on the book by Michael Chabon, Metropolitan Opera, New York, until October 11

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Richard Sennett delivers a powerful warning to universities to defend their freedom; and Helena Kelly on the revolutionary world that shaped Jane Austen.

'The Worlds of Jane Austen: The Influence and Inspiration Behind the Novels', by Helena Kelly

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, AE Stallings immerses herself in Daniel Mendelsohn's new translation of Homer's Odyssey; and Dinah Birch is intrigued by an ambitious novel twenty years in the making. 

'The Odyssey', by Homer, translated by Daniel Mendelsohn 

'The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny', by Kiran Desai

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, James Shapiro celebrates New York's love affair with Shakespeare; Mark Nayler goes on the hunt for monsters; and Lily Herd introduces this issue's In Brief pages. 

'Monsterland: A journey around the world’s dark imagination', by Nicholas Jubber

'The Perilous Deep: A supernatural history of the Atlantic', by Karl Bell

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This week, Professor Jonathan Bate on a tiny Elizabethan portrait with an illuminating history; and novelist Gwendoline Riley assesses the mysterious life and work of Dame Muriel Spark.

'Electric Spark: The enigma of Muriel Spark', by Frances Wilson

'The Letters of Muriel Spark – Volume 1: 1944–1963', edited by Dan Gunn

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, the winner of this year's TLS Ackerley Prize, Jeff Young, discusses his spellbinding memoir; and Toby Lichtig talks to the Australian novelist Michelle de Kretser at this year's Hay Festival.

'Wild Twin', by Jeff Young

'Theory & Practice', by Michelle de Kretser

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This week, George Berridge instructs Lucy and Alex on the noble art of oenophilia; and Lucy takes in a trio of musicals.

'Who's Afraid of Romanée-Conti: A shortcut to drinking great wines', by Dan Keeling

'One Thousand Vines: A new way to understand wine', by Pascaline Peltier

'Good Night, Oscar', by Doug Wright, Barbican, until September 21

'Top Hat', by Irving Berlin, Chichester Festival Theatre, until September 6

'Brigadoon', by Alan Lerner and Frederick Loewe, adapted by Rona Munro, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, until September 20

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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Alex Clark celebrates the life and work of Edna O'Brien with filmmaker Sinéad O'Shea and novelists Eimear McBride and Jan Carson at this year's Belfast Book Festival.

'Blue Road: The Edna O'Brien Story', by Sinéad O'Shea

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, a special interview with farmer and writer James Rebanks about a life-changing stay on the Norwegian coast.

'The Place of Tides', by James Rebanks

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Emile Chabal braces himself against the barrelling force of the Mistral; and Kathryn Hughes is exhilarated by memories of dancing to Dickens in the carpark of the Horsham Odeon.

'The Mistral: A Windswept History of Modern France', by Catherine Tatiana Dunlop

'Showtime!', at the Charles Dickens Museum, until January 18, 2026

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Norma Clarke explores the ancient arts of hedge-laying, thatching, hay-cutting and wood-turning; and highlights from this week's issue.

'Words from the Hedge: A hedgelayer’s view of the countryside', by Richard Negus

'Of Thorn and Briar: A year with the West Country hedgelayer', by Paul Lamb 

'On the Roof: A thatcher’s journey', by Tom Allan

'Where Are the Fellows Who Cut the Hay?: How traditions from the past can shape our future', by Robert Ashton

'Ingrained: The making of a craftsman', by Callum Robinson

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Alicia Rix charts Henry James's return to an unrecognisable homeland; and David Horspool on a Victorian conman and a contemporary swimmer.

'Henry James Comes Home: Rediscovering America in the Gilded Age', by Peter Brooks

'On Writers and Writing: Selected Essays', by Henry James, edited by Michael Gorra

'Swimmingly: Adventures in Water', by Vassos Alexander

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Michael LaPointe celebrates a century of The Great Gatsby; and Miranda France on an epistolary novel by Natalia Ginzburg.

'The Cambridge Centennial Edition of The Great Gatsby', by F Scott Fitzgerald, edited by James LW West III, with an introduction by Sarah Churchwell

'The Annotated Great Gatsby', by F Scott Fitzgerald, edited by James LW West III, with an introduction by Amor Towles

'The Great Gatsby and Stories from All the Sad Young Men', by F Scott Fitzgerald, edited by Philip McGowan, with an introduction by Min Jin Lee

'The Bloomsbury Handbook to F Scott Fitzgerald', edited by Laura Rattray and Linda Wagner-Martin

'The City and the House', by Natalia Ginzburg, translated by Dick Davies

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Nicola Shulman is staggered by Sarah Vine's account of Westminster rivalry; and James Clackson on the irresistible rise of Indo-European.

'How not to be a political wife: A memoir', by Sarah Vine

'Proto: How one language went global', by Laura Spinney

'The Indo-Europeans rediscovered: How a scientific revolution is rewriting their story', by JP Mallory

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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... thinking about tomorrow. This week, Michael Caines on a musical inspired by a classic album; and Toby Lichtig talks to Mike Berners-Lee about the future of cliimate action at the Guernsey Literary Festival.

'Sterophonic', by David Adjmi, Duke of York’s Theatre, until October 11

'A Climate of Truth: Why We Need It and How to Get It', by Mike Berners-Lee

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, what TLS contributors are reading this summer; and Catherine Taylor on a trio of novels highlighting the growing pains of adolescence.

'Back in the Day', by Oliver Lovrenski, translated by Nichola Smalley

'Fun and Games', by John Patrick McHugh

'Girl, 1983', by Linn Ullmann, translated by Martin Aitken

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Sara Lodge counts the ways that mathematics influenced writers from Byron to Trollope; and Russell Williams on the transformative power of rites and rituals.

'The Number Sense of Nineteenth-Century British Literature', by Stefanie Markovits

'The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic', by Alan Moore and Steve Moore

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, a special podcast from the Hay Festival ranges from the ancient world to the 16th-century, taking in the art of criticism, the centrality of religion and eco-catastrophe. With Stephanie Merritt, Edith Hall, Toby Lichtig and a guest appearance from TLS crossword compiler Praxiteles.

'Traitor's Legacy', by SJ Parris

'Epic of the Earth: Reading Homer's "Iliad" in the Fight for a Dying World', by Edith Hall

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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This week, Magna Carta experts David Carpenter and Nicholas Vincent tell us how they discovered a rare original of the document; and Michael Caines on a spritely new staging of a Shaw play starring mother and daughter Imelda Staunton and Bessie Carter.

'Mrs Warren's Profession', by George Bernard Shaw, Garrick Theatre, London, until August 16

Produced by Charlotte Pardy

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