John Blair Killing the Dead Vampire epidemics from Mesopotamia to the New World 536pp. Princeton University Press. £30 (US $35). A dead body, as anyone who has sat with one will know, is an unsettling

From a new voice in literary fiction, this is a brilliantly chaotic, darkly funny story that explores family dysfunction at its most extreme. The Flynns’ messy lives – an open marriage, three very reb

Judy Blume’s Superfudge was in our tiny school library, and I wolfed it down at the age of eight. From then, I was side-by-side with all of Judy’s kids, right the way up to 17-year-old Katherine in Fo

Review of reviews: Books

David Farrier Nature’s Genius Evolution’s lessons for a changing planet 288pp. Canongate. £20. In David Farrier’s latest book, he warns us that humanity is endangering every facet of life on Earth thr

LOST LAMBS BY MADELINE CASH A chaotic family of five on the brink, a town held to ransom by a mysterious tech bro, a gnat-infested church, an ‘inner beauty’ pageant, a 20-something war criminal and on