Do not speak ill of the dead: so runs a familiar injunction, often recalled when it is already too late, and ill has been spoken. And sometimes the dead themselves set a terrible example. Consider the

Review of reviews: Books

Best books… Roy Foster The emeritus professor of ...

Theatre: Our Town Swansea Grand Theatre, until 31 ...

A Queer Inheritance: Alternative Histories in the National ...

You wouldn’t guess from the cover design—three songbirds silhouetted over swatches of picturesque Englishness—but Catherine Clarke’s A History of England in 25 Poems hits one of its sweet spots with a