14 h. ago Our Beautiful Boys by Sameer Pandya review – teenage lives at the crossroads

A night of violence exposes the dynamics of race, masculinity and privilege at play in America’s schools The Marabar caves in A Passage to India represent the breakdown of order and communication as well as provoking the terrible accusation that drives EM Forster’s story. Sameer Pandya plays with a similar plot device in his compelling US-based novel, including an epigraph from Forster’s classic.It is set in southern California, where three teenage boys on the brink of adulthood – stars of their high school American football team with promising college careers ahead of them – attend a party at an abandoned house in the hills. Vikram is an Indian American, while Diego, who is Latino, lives with his academic mother. MJ is white with wealthy parents. Part of the pleasure of Pandya’s writing lies in his unravelling of identity politics – a theme explored in his debut, Members Only.Our Beautiful Boys by Sameer Pandya is published by Bloomsbury (£16.99). To support the Guardian and Observ...

Politics

3 d. ago Fit and healthy student, 22, who died from sepsis may have survived if medics had listened to the desperate pleas of his mother

William Hewes, 22, died with sepsis at Homerton hospital in east London in January 2023 within hours of his arrival. That is despite concerns from his doctor mother that he needed urgent care.

Events

3 d. ago Fit and healthy student, 22, who died from sepsis may have survived if medics had followed his doctor mother's desperate pleas

William Hewes, 22, died with sepsis at Homerton hospital in east London in January 2023 within hours of his arrival. That is despite concerns from his doctor mother that he needed urgent care.

Society

3 d. ago Girl, 10, took her own life because her empathy made her a target for bullies, family says

‘My biggest message to parents is to please go through your child’s cell phone’, the girls’ mother warned other parents

Events

4 d. ago 'Britain's most tattooed mum' in heartbreaking plea as she scraps Mother's Day pub date

Melissa Sloan, 47, from Kidderminster, Worcestershire, is covered head-to-toe in tattoos and will be spending Mother's Day at home as she is 'scared' to go outside

Politics

7 d. ago Mum’s fury over lack of justice eight months after son, 15, gunned down at Notting Hill event

Rene Graham was shot dead at a Notting Hill Carnival event in 2024 and his killer has still not been caught

Politics

1 week ago I have the same name as BBC icon... but I can't get a passport as officials say it's 'frivolous'

A mother who raised thousands for charity by changing her name is pleading with Home Office officials to finally grant her a passport after 16 years - having deemed her new name too 'frivolous'.

Politics

1 week ago Driver pleads guilty to killing mother and daughter in M4 crash

Firas Zeineddine, 46, appeared before Swindon Crown Court where he pleaded guilty to two charges of causing death by careless driving.

Events

2 w. ago Keir Starmer makes personal plea for Labour MPs to back him on benefits cuts and recalls how his late mother and brother dealt with disabilities

The Prime Minister is engaged in a frantic bid to quell a possible revolt on the Government benches in the House of Commons over welfare reforms.

Economics

3 w. ago Mother pleads guilty to causing death of son, nine, by dangerous driving

Zac Roe, from Andover in Hampshire, died at the scene of the crash in East Woodyates, north Dorset, in March last year.

Events

3 w. ago ‘He has no free will’: Robert Crimo’s mother claims son is innocent despite guilty plea

‘He has been a prisoner, and this is wrong’ Crimo’s mother scorned following his surprise admission

Politics