Holding out for a hero

This month’s story, ‘The Surrogate’ by Tessa Hadley, is a study of two men through the eyes of one woman. The title suggests that one man is a surrogate for the other, but is it as simple as that? As

The lives of Clara and Nancy are worlds apart – but is it time for them to finally live out their dream?

If you were to look back at a list of bestsellers over the last few years, there are a number of trends to be found – and one among them is the rise of the mythical retelling. The popularity of return

Did you know that Thomas Müntzer, leader of the German Peasants’ War in 1525, used a rainbow flag to rally his followers? It’s an aptly exuberant image for the radical charisma of Müntzer, and for the

This year marks the publication of my eighth novel, The Time Hop Coffee Shop. Eight feels like quite an impressive number, especially when there were times I thought I’d never get a book published. I

An old man lives at the bottom of my garden. His name is Robert Barkus, or Bakehouse, or Bagust. Nobody is quite sure. But I often sense him around when I’m gardening, and I’ve found out a fair bit ab