The best books to give as presents this Christmas
Briefly

"The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store (Orion), a novel that takes place at the intersection of the Black and Jewish communities, which turns out to be a grocery store. This is James McBride (always fabulous) at his very best. [...] Absolution (Bloomsbury) exceeds every expectation. It is one of the finest modern novels I've read, a moral masterpiece."
"I will be giving Zadie Smith's The Fraud (Hamish Hamilton), her great launch into historical novels (and brilliantly read by her, complete with the right accents, for the audio version). And I won't be able to resist giving Lavinia Fontana: Trailblazer, Rule Breaker (National Gallery of Ireland), edited by Aoife Brady. [...] It's completely eye-opening."
"I was impressed with Paul Murray's The Bee Sting, about a well-off Irish family that falls on hard times. Money perhaps helped suppress the turmoil within, masking a true understanding of their world, as well as the wider one in which they live. [...] Rory Stewart's Politics on the Edge: A Memoir from Within (Vintage) is a romp through."
Read at www.theguardian.com
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