Best books… Richard Holmes The biographer chooses five ...

IN the rear of her stationary motor-taxi, a young milliner reached up a careful gloved hand to pat her black-felt cloche, snug on her smart, fair curls. Constance Smart had been sitting patiently for

“Between you and me …”

Pulse Cynan Jones (Granta, £14.99) Saints Tim MacGabhann ...

The English House: A History in Eight Buildings ...

Ava thought that men had their uses – they were excellent at fetching her drinks and mink stoles when she needed them, buying meals and paying for clothes and all that – but she probably wouldn’t go s