離婚d, beheaded, 生き残るd an アイルランド共和国軍 attack:?Tony Rennell reviews the most 説得力のある history 調書をとる／予約するs of 2023
HISTORY?
追跡（する）ing the Falcon: Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn And the Marriage that shook Europe
(Bloomsbury £30, 624 pp)
She was not one of the most beautiful women in the world. A 同時代の Venetian diarist 述べるd Anne Boleyn as having ‘異常に dark 肌, a long neck and a wide mouth’. Nor was she voluptuous ― rather, she had ‘flat breasts’. But she was feisty and flirtacious, with dark, flashing 注目する，もくろむs that made the 受取人 of her gaze feel that they alone 事柄d.
That 信用／信任 drove a king mad with a 願望（する） that would lead him to break with the ローマ法王 in Rome ― a 16th-century Brexit ― ーするために 無効にする his first marriage and 結婚する her instead.
L-R:?Feisty: Claire Foy plays the ill-運命／宿命d Anne Boleyn in Wolf Hall;?追跡（する）ing the Falcon: Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn And the Marriage that shook europe by John Guy and Julia Fox (Bloomsbury £30, 624 pp)
The story of Henry VIII’s 法廷，裁判所, with all its low intrigue and high politics, is familiar, but rarely has it been brought to life with such verve and sumptuous 詳細（に述べる） as by husband-and-wife historians John Guy and Julia Fox.?
Their Anne is a surprisingly modern woman with ambition to be more than just a docile 王室の consort. She 手配中の，お尋ね者 to have 影響（力）; over Henry, over 宗教的な 改革（する）, over international politics.
And she did, until she failed to 配達する on her most important 義務 ― to 供給する her husband, his Tudor 王朝 in do ubt, with a son and 相続人. And when he turned against her those 注目する，もくろむs of hers flashed in vain and, 老年の 35 and after 1,000 days as queen, her 長，率いる was off in the Tower of London.
殺人，大当り Thatcher
(Mudlark £25, 416 pp)
L-R:??Margaret Thatcher and husband Denis after the アイルランド共和国軍 爆弾 in Brighton, 1984;?殺人，大当り Thatcher by Rory Carroll (Mudlark £25, 416 pp)
The taunt 明らかに 攻撃する，衝突する home, unsettling the アイロンをかける Lady. The アイルランド共和国軍 had tried and failed to kill Margaret Thatcher with a 爆弾 工場／植物d at the Grand Hotel, Brighton during the Tory Party 会議／協議会 there in 1984.
She 生き残るd by the 肌 of her teeth, but, as they reminded her afterwards: ‘We only have to be lucky once; you have to be lucky always.’ One of her の近くに 補佐官s said: ‘The 引用する stuck with her. It was one you wouldn’t forget.’
How の近くに she （機の）カム to dying that October day is at the heart of this meticulous and gripping 再建 of the horrific アイルランド共和国軍 爆破 （選挙などの）運動をする that 最高潮に達するd at the hotel on Brighton sea 前線.
A few weeks earlier, 共和国の／共和党の テロリスト Patrick ‘Chancer’ Magee, from Belfast, had checked into the hotel under a 誤った 指名する and hidden a 爆弾 in the bathroom of Room 629, primed to 爆発させる remotely.
When it went off, it carved a 軸 of 破壊, 負かす／撃墜する through 天井 after 天井 to the first-床に打ち倒す Napoleon 控訴, where it 行方不明になるd Thatcher by インチs. If she’d ぐずぐず残るd two minutes longer in the loo, she would have taken the 十分な 攻撃する，衝突する and almost certainly died. On such moments does history turn.
Once A King: The Lost Memoir of Edward VIII
(Hodder & Stoughton £25, 384 pp)
L-R:?The Duke and Duchess of Windsor 地位，任命する-abdication;?Once A King: The Lost Memoir of Edward VIII by Jane Marguerite Tippett (Hodder & Stoughton £25, 384 pp)
The former King was 自白するing his 犯罪. ‘I knew I was 落ちるing in love with another man’s wife and I should have 孤立した.’
But he could not give her up, because ‘Wallis brought into my life something not there before’. Rather than lose Mrs Simpson, Edward VIII gave up his 王位 in 1936, 急落（する），激減（する）ing Britain and its 王室の Family into a 危機 it struggled to 生き残る.
Ten years later, the now Duke of Windsor was 説得するd to tell his 味方する of those momentous events to American 新聞記者／雑誌記者 Charles Murphy, for Life magazine. Once he started talking, Edward didn’t stop, and his reminiscences, collected over four years, formed a unique insider’s account of the abdication.?
Murphy later 宿泊するd his papers at Boston University, which is where archivist and author Jane Marguerite Tippett 明らかにするd them ― box upon box of 公式文書，認めるs and 覚え書きs, 含むing Edward’s own first 草案s, scrawled on yellow 合法的な pads.?
Here was the authentic and unheard 発言する／表明する of the man who had once been king. It tells his story as he saw it, lived it and remembered it.
His 失敗s, 証拠不十分s, naivety and 欠陥s are on 十分な 陳列する，発揮する, but so too are his 知能, his 忠義, his love and his 解決する. A 説得力のある read that breaks new ground.
Emperor of Rome
Emperor of Rome by Mary 耐えるd (Profile £30, 512pp)
(Profile £30, 512pp)
What did it feel like to be one of the nearly 30 emperors who 支配するd Rome on a whim for 250 years, from the first, Augustus, who ended the 共和国 and 宣言するd himself princeps in 27BC, to the last, Alexander Severus, 殺人d by mutinous 兵士s in 235 AD?
That is the daunting 仕事 Cambridge classicist Mary 耐えるd has 始める，決める herself in a follow-up to SPQR, her best-selling history of 古代の Rome.
‘Can we get a 見解（をとる） of those real-life human 存在s in all their ordinary human variety and frailty?’ she asks. ‘What was it like to be the 支配者 within a 法廷，裁判所 culture of deference, deceit and dystopia? How did it feel to be the one person who knew that no one could ever be 信用d to tell them the truth?’
She paints a 説得力のある portrait of these demi-gods, their barbarities, their foibles, their 性の 超過s, the catamites who served them, the wives and children who betrayed them, the 血-letting 戦う／戦いs for succession when one died, the constant 恐れる of the を刺す in the 支援する. But also the grinding hard work of 治める／統治するing, 決定／判定勝ち（する）-making, the travels, the wars. 十分な of fascinating 詳細（に述べる） and anecdote.
The Weimar Years: Rise and 落ちる 1918?1933
(Apollo £35, 592pp)
The Weimar Years: Rise and 落ちる 1918?1933 by Frank McDonough (Apollo £35, 592pp)
When one war ends, the 半端物s are the circumstances and grievances have already been created to 原因（となる） the next. That was certainly the 事例／患者 in 1918, as McDonough’s 侵入するing 分析 of the political, 経済的な and social basket 事例／患者 that Germany became with the unsatisfactory 地位，任命する-World War I 解決／入植地 graphically shows.
The Weimar 共和国 was an 演習 in 僕主主義 that 簡単に failed. The 独裁的な Kaiser was shown the door but the system that 取って代わるd him was a nightmare of infighting and 不決断.
Partly to 非難する was the ridiculous 増殖 of 政党s and a system of 比例する 代表 that 危険に diluted 力／強力にする to the point where it could not be 演習d. In 15 years, there were 20 different 連立政権s under a succession of （ドイツなどの）首相／（大学の）学長s who lasted an 普通の／平均（する） of just nine months.
追加するd to that was the 経済的な 大混乱 原因（となる）d by the 勝利を得た western nations, 特に フラン, 需要・要求するing 手足を不自由にする／（物事を）損なうing 賠償s to punish Germany for having gone to war ― vindictively kicking the 敗北・負かすd nation when it was already on its 膝s, 軍隊ing it into 破産, poverty and はびこる インフレーション.
Politics took to the streets, and a 以前 unheard of 群衆-rouser by the 指名する of Adolf Hitler 現れるd to 促進する his 概念 of the Fuhrer as the only 解答 ― and the next war was a certainty.
職業s For The Girls
(Abacus £22, 320 pp)
職業s For The Girls by Ysenda Maxtone Graham (Abacus £22, 320 pp)
支援する in the 1960s, Julia Wigan’s father taught his three daughters Latin, a seemingly enlightened thing for a man of his 世代 to do. But his 推論する／理由, he told them, was so that, as grown women, they ‘would have something to think about while doing the washing up’.
That was the 勝つ／広く一帯に広がるing 態度 to girls 存在 適切に educated and having a career. There was not much point since, as 17-year-old Cicely McCulloch’s father told her, ‘you’re perfectly bedworthy and will get married’.
Such sexist 態度s were appalling but commonplace, によれば this fascinating snapshot of women and work from 概略で 1950 to 1990.
製図／抽選 on interviews with 200 women, social historian Ysenda Maxtone Graham 明らかにする／漏らすs a world of 露骨な／あからさまの and unapologetic 差別, 限られた／立憲的な horizons (little beyond secretarial work and nursing), low 期待s, condescension, disdain and constant put-負かす／撃墜するs, unequal 支払う／賃金, 底（に届く）-pinching and casual 性の 開発／利用.
The male prejudice is breath-taking. When Alison Keighley, a 訓練生 doctor, asked a 外科医 why there were so few women in 外科, he sneered: ‘Because they are temperamentally and physiologically unsuited.’
Some men felt demeaned if their wife went out to work, as if their 役割 as breadwinner was challenged. But, thankfully, as the 20th century （機の）カム to an end, such chauvinist 態度s were about to change.
Babi Yar
(Vintage Classics £20, 528pp)
Babi Yar by A. Anatoli Kuznetsov (Vintage Classics £20, 528pp)
This first-手渡す history of a ravine on the 辛勝する／優位 of Kyiv that was a 場所／位置 of 集まり 殺人，大当り is rightly あられ／賞賛するd as a masterpiece. In its intimacy, imagery and immediacy, it leaves you despairing that such terrible 残虐（行為）s were 現実に committed. That it 関心s ウクライナ共和国, a country and a people whose 苦しむing continues in our own time, makes it even more poignant.
Stalin and Hitler both did their worst there long before Putin; subjugating, 餓死するing, 虐殺（する）ing. Its people’s historic 失敗 to resist 支援する then is the folk memory that 運動s their 熱烈な 抵抗 today.
This 調書をとる／予約する was first published in the Soviet Union in 1961 but only after the Kremlin had red-pencilled events such as the 審議する／熟考する 飢饉 of 1933 when, to punish 小作農民s who resisted collectivisation of the land, Stalin 掴むd the country’s 穀物 and five million people 餓死するd to death.
Author Anatoli Kuznetsov had no choice but to 服従させる／提出する to 検閲 if he was to be published at all and in a truncated, プロの／賛成の-Soviet form his 調書をとる／予約する sold millions, making him a celebrity writer in Russia.
But he 内密に kept the 初めの, and it was published in 十分な in the West in 1970. It is that text that has now been reprinted. Read it and weep.
ART
By Bel Mooney?
Thunderclap
(Chatto & Windus £25, 272pp)
Thunderclap by Laura Cumming (Chatto & Windus £25, 272pp)
Many people will have read Donna Tartt’s blockbuster, The Goldfinch, without knowing the 十分な story behind that mysterious, jewel-like, trompe-l’?il 絵 of a life-size bird chained to a curious bird feeder.
Laura Cumming cleverly interweaves that work of art, the life and death of its young Dutch artist Carel Fabritius, and the 偶発の 破壊 of a city, with memories of her father, the Scottish artist James Cumming, who also died too young.
In her 20s, Cumming experienced a クーデター de foudre in 前線 of an 半端物, obscure 絵 in the 国家の Gallery, by a little-known 同時代の of Vermeer called Fabritius. He died at 32 in the horrific gunpowder exp losion of October 12, 1654, which 荒廃させるd beautiful Delft.
Cumming unpicks this story, 始める，決めるs it in the 状況 of the Dutch Golden Age, and 反映するs on the 力／強力にする of art to change lives. An intriguing, ambitious and tender blend of art history and personal memoir, this beautifully illustrated 調書をとる／予約する is one to read and re-read.
Monet: The Restless 見通し
(Allen 小道／航路 £35, 576pp)
Monet: The Restless 見通し by Jackie Wullschl?ger (Allen 小道／航路 £35, 576pp)
It IS astonishing that there has never before been a biography in English of the 19th-century genius who revolutionised texture and light in 絵. What would the history of modern art be without Claude Monet?
This 罰金 熟考する／考慮する by the distinguished art critic Jackie Wullschl?ger 始める，決めるs the Father of Impressionism within the turbulence of late 19t h-century フラン and the first two １０年間s of the 20th century ― 明らかにする／漏らすing the 激変s of a コンビナート／複合体 私的な life as he moved from naturalism to impressionism.
The 調書をとる／予約する guides us from his 特権d childhood, through love, 拒絶 and impecunious struggle, on the long road to Giverny ― and those famous, almost-abstract water lilies. This 批判的な and perceptive biography of a dynamic painter (and somewhat miserly man) deserves to 勝利，勝つ prizes.
A Place Apart: The Artist’s Studio 1400-1900
(Unicorn £25, 168pp)
A Place Apart: The Artist’s Studio 1400-1900 by Caroline Chapman (Unicorn £25, 168pp)
In Amsterdam last year, I stood in Rembrandt’s 最高の，を越す-床に打ち倒す studio, imagining him grinding his colours beneath that very roof. His famous work, The Artist In His Studio (painted when he was only 22) , shows how images of artist’s studios can 示唆する 深遠な truths about the work.
It’s a fascinating genre, now collected and celebrated by Caroline Chapman, and is 都合よく handsome, 描写するing and 述べるing the studios and practices of famous artists from Leonardo to Vincent 先頭 Gogh.
The cliche of the penniless artist toiling in a dilapidated garret was often the reality. But in the Renaissance, young artists would learn their （手先の）技術 in bustling workshops, while Michelangelo’s ‘studio’ for four years was the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. Packed with （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）, anecdote and 分析, this is a perfect 現在の for a 献身的な art-lover.
STOCKING FILLERS?
By 示す Mason?
Still A Bit of Snap in the Celery
(Abacus £16.99, 224 pp)
Still A Bit of Snap in the Celery by Marcus Berkmann (Abacus £16.99, 224 pp)
‘If there was a human 同等（の） of WD40,’ 令状s Marcus Berkmann, ‘life would be unimaginably 高めるd.’ In the first few years of his age beginning with a six, Berkmann has become an 専門家 on the failings of the 円熟した male 団体／死体. His 膝s are ‘薄焼きパン／素焼陶器’, and there are ‘捕らえる、獲得するs under my 注目する，もくろむs you could carry the shopping in’.
But he knows he is not yet 適切に old. There is still that bit of snap referred to in the 肩書を与える, and ‘you will know when you become truly old because people will start 述べるing you as “sprightly”.’ Nor does he want to be 20 again: ‘存在 young is a 襲う，襲って強奪する’s game. I’m no longer young, and I’m no longer a 襲う，襲って強奪する, and I don’t 行方不明になる either 明言する／公表する at all.’
This wonderful 調書をとる／予約する isn’t just funny, it’s wise. Berkmann has 設立する his way to live, and for my money it’s bang on: ‘As I get older I feel that laziness has much to be said for it. We have all 証明するd ourselves, and if we 港／避難所’t, it’s a bit late to try now.’
（疑いを）晴らす thinking 明白に runs in his family. A few months ago someone 示唆するd to Berkmann’s mother that she should 可決する・採択する a sugar-解放する／自由な diet. ‘I’m 91,’ she replied, ‘and as far as I’m 関心d, a life without cake is a life not 価値（がある） living’.
Have a Little 約束
(Penguin £18.99, 240 pp)
Have a Little 約束 by The Reverend Kate Bottley (Penguin £18.99, 240 pp)
The Reverend Kate Bottley first （機の）カム to the world’s attention when she and a couple whose wedding she was 行為／行うing broke into a surprise ‘flash 暴徒’ dance during the service.
The ビデオ got millions of 見解（をとる）s on YouTube ― you can see most of the congregation joining in, but my favourite moment comes at 1 minute 35 seconds, when two old ladies walk out in 抗議する. Enough TV and 無線で通信する 生産者s 同意しないd with me for Bottley to become that dreaded beast, the celebrity vicar. This 調書をとる／予約する is a 要約 of her thoughts on 宗教, though there is still room for her to remind us that she’s 利用できる for pantomime, that she’s met Kylie Minogue (twice) and that ‘I would like to have a bash at 厳密に Come Dancing’.
Leaving all that aside, however, there is plenty in the 調書をとる／予約する to make you think. I liked Bottley’s 認識／意識性 that taking the Bible literally will make you look stupid: there are orders, for example, not to eat prawns or wear mixed fibres.
But whatever the source of her lessons, several of them rang true for me, such as the need to ‘look 負かす／撃墜する the mountain’ once in a while ― feel good about the things you’ve achiev ed, rather than worry about those you 港／避難所’t. 加える there’s a handy tip about dog collars ― wearing one means that ‘I can pretty much always 捕らえる、獲得する a 二塁打 seat to myself on a train’. I’m ordering one now.
Abroad in Japan: Ten Years in the Land of the Rising Sun
(Bantam £12.99, 320 pp)
British 卒業生（する） Chris 幅の広い went to Japan to teach English, but has 設立する fame with his YouTube ビデオs explaining the country to 西部の人／西洋人s. There is the Christmas Day KFC feast, costing 5,800 yen (about £30) for the 十分な 作品: whole chicken, fillets in red ワイン sauce, fries and Christmas cake. It’s so popular you have to pre-order in October.
And if you can’t 直面する climbing 開始する Fuji to breathe the legendarily （疑いを）晴らす 空気／公表する at its 首脳会議, you can always buy a can of the stuff.
L-R:?Abroad in Japan: Ten Years in the Land of the Rising Sun by Chris 幅の広い (Bantam £12.99, 320 pp);?Abroad in Japan: Ten Years in the Land of the Rising Sun by Chris 幅の広い (Bantam £12.99, 320 pp)
Don’t Stop the Music
(Elliott & Thompson £16.99, 256 pp)
The deliciously simple conceit ― pop facts from every day of the year ― lets 吊りくさび roam wide and 解放する／自由な, to fascinating 影響. 無線で通信する Caroline was 指名するd after JFK’s daughter, Dolly Parton sells a brand of canine 着せる／賦与するs called Doggy Parton, and the Walker Brothers weren’t brothers. Not until 1999 did the UK 最高の，を越す 40 see a song with Thursday in its 肩書を与える (Thursday’s Child by David Bowie ― the 残り／休憩（する） of the week had been covered by then). Brian En o composed the start-up jingle for Windows 95 on a Mac, while Cliff Richard 解放（する）d his first 選び出す／独身 on the day that Michael Jackson was born.
As ever in the world of pop, there are some bizarre scenes. A 1975 外見 by the Bay City Rollers saw their ヘリコプター land on an island in the middle of a lake in Leicestershire, at which point 50,000 fans began wading through the water to reach them. Many had to be 救助（する）d. ‘一方／合間 Tony Blackburn, covering the event for BBC 無線で通信する 1, is circling 訴訟／進行s in a speedboat 存在 steered by a man in a Womble 衣装.’
Half Human
by Stan McMurtry
(Pressman House £11.99, 329 pp)
At a low ebb after the 決裂／故障 of a long marriage, protagonist Fergus can’t believe his luck when he 会合，会うs Jenny, the woman of his dreams. Utterly 長，率いる over heels, he never knew it was possible to experience love like this and feels his fortunes have 完全に turned around. Our lucky lovers quickly get married and find a cottage in a charming village in the Kent countryside.
The place is dilapidated and needs a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 of work, but they’re joyful about it, thrilled to be building a home together. Things could not be going any better ― except, that is, for the intermittent sounds of creaking floorboards upstairs, which they せいにする to a friendly ghost.
When Fergus discovers an old diary hidden behind a bedroom 塀で囲む, he starts reading. Written by Eliza, a young girl who lived in the cottage 150 years ago, it 詳細（に述べる）s several terrifying 地元の 殺人s and their in-house ghost suddenly seems いっそう少なく friendly. The horror ramps up the deeper Fergus gets into Eliza’s diary and it’s not long before Jenny says she can’t live there any more. This creepy mystery by Mac, the Mail’s 伝説の 漫画家-turned-小説家 ― 令状ing here under his real 指名する ― is a 説得力のある page-turner. Fabulous.
Review by Sara Lawrence??
