9 h. ago The Rest of Our Lives by Benjamin Markovits audiobook review – an American road trip with a twist

A law professor leaves his failing marriage and faltering career and hits the open road in this Booker-shortlisted novel of midlife turmoilAt the start of The Rest of Our Lives, we learn that Tom, a 55-year-old law professor from New York, plans to leave his wife just as soon as he has dropped their youngest child off at college. Tom and Amy have been together for 30 years. He believes theirs to be a “C-minus marriage” which was irreparably ruptured when Amy had an affair 12 years previously. And so, after leaving their daughter Miriam at college in Pittsburgh, he keeps on driving, revisiting old friends and places in search of his departed youth.Benjamin Markovits’s 12th novel – which has been shortlisted for this year’s Booker prize – could be seen as a companion piece to Miranda July’s celebrated All Fours in its exploration of the dissatisfaction of middle age. Tom is not a reliable narrator of his life, though he is nonetheless a compelling protagonist even in his flagrant mome...

Transport

61 h. ago Covid inquiry live: children paid ‘huge price’ to protect rest of society in pandemic, says Johnson

The former prime minister says method for adjudicating exam results ‘must have been bitterly disappointing to students’Former prime minister Boris Johnson tries to give the inquiry context around the decision making on the closure of educational settings. He says:Don’t forget that we didn’t know the effect this disease had on kids. We didn’t know much about the transmissibility of the disease. There were all sorts of things that were simply unknown and difficult to plan for. And the thing was moving very fast.And from the point of view of No 10, we were focused very much on trying to stave off, trying to avoid an appalling public health crisis, and we were focused on getting enough ventilators, on getting enough PPE, trying to avoid a significant number of casualties, and I think it’s important for the inquiry to focus, to remember that at the time that the school closures were first mentioned, they were seen as something you put in at the peak of the pandemic, and we didn’t think w...

Politics

1 week ago Stefan Dennis pulls out of Strictly Come Dancing due to illness

‘Neighbours’ star will not perform in this weekend’s live show after doctors advised him to rest

Politics

2 w. ago Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen audiobook review – an immersive all

Actors Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Bill Nighy and Marisa Abela are among the cast in a pacy adaptation that retains Austen’s sharp plotting and comic precisionDoes the world need another Jane Austen adaptation, on top of the mountains of TV dramas, stage shows and movies already in existence? Probably not. Even so, this new audio version of Pride & Prejudice, made to mark the 250th anniversary of Austen’s birth, is a proper treat. Instead of a straightforward narration, Audible has thrown its considerable resources at an all-star dramatisation, adapted with skill and sensitivity by Lulu Raczka.Marianne Jean-Baptiste plays the voluble Mrs Bennet, who is keen to get her five daughters married off, if only the longsuffering Mr Bennet (Bill Nighy) would see the urgency of the situation. New on the scene are eligible singletons Mr Bingley (Toheeb Jimoh) and his monosyllabic friend Mr Darcy (Harris Dickinson). Darcy’s air of disdain irks the outspoken Elizabeth Bennet (Marisa Abela) and l...

Politics

3 w. ago I Regret Almost Everything by Keith McNally audiobook review – the life of a hospitality legend

Richard E Grant narrates the restaurateur’s candid memoir about his life’s highs, lows and biggest regrets – including barring James CordenThe memoir from Keith McNally, the British-born restaurateur behind celebrated New York establishments including The Odeon and Balthazar, begins bleakly with its author attempting suicide at his summer house in Martha’s Vineyard in 2018. We then rewind to 20 months earlier when, on a Saturday morning, he took his youngest children to the National Gallery in London. While looking at a painting of Jesus being betrayed by Judas, “I sensed my body beginning to show signs of betraying me: a strange metallic tingling started to pinch my fingertips.” McNally was experiencing the beginnings of a stroke that would leave him with impaired speech and paralysis on one side of his body.I Regret Almost Everything sees McNally, now 74, reflecting on his health along with his long career, moving from bellboy at the Hilton hotel in London to teen actor – aged 16,...

Politics

3 w. ago Liverpool defender Giovanni Leoni out for rest of season with ACL injury

Centre-back excelled on debut against SouthamptonArne Slot predicts Leoni will be out for ‘around a year’Arne Slot has confirmed Giovanni Leoni will miss the rest of the season after tearing an anterior cruciate ligament on his Liverpool debut.The 18-year-old central defender, signed from Parma last month for £26m, sustained the injury towards the end of an assured performance against Southampton in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday and immediate concerns over a lengthy layoff have been realised. Leoni, recently called up to the Italy squad for the first time, faces surgery and an extensive rehabilitation period. Continue reading...

Events

4 w. ago My Name Is Emilia del Valle by Isabel Allende audiobook review – portrait of a fiercely independent young woman

Sent from San Francisco to report on the war in late-19th century Chile, a young writer embarks on a journey of self-discovery in this tale of love, loss and liberationSet in the late 19th century and inspired by the Chilean civil war which ravaged the country in 1891, Isabel Allende’s historical drama tells of a young woman born illegitimately in San Francisco’s Mission District. Emilia del Valle’s surname comes from her Chilean father, an aristocrat who seduced her mother when she was a novice nun and left before their child was born. Emilia owes her fiercely independent spirit to her liberal-minded stepfather Francisco Claro, whom she calls Papo, who encourages his stepdaughter to think for herself.In her late teens, Emilia writes a series of successful pulp fiction novels under the male pen name Brandon J Price. By the age of 23, she is a columnist at San Francisco’s Daily Examiner; still writing as a man, she longs to do more serious work. Eventually, she is commissioned to tra...

Culture