MUST READS
MUST READS
His letters reveal Emily as the 'hyacinth girl' of his poem The Waste Land
THE HYACINTH GIRL
by Lyndall Gordon (Virago £12.99, 512pp)
On January 2, 2020, 14 sealed boxes were opened at Princeton University. They contained 1,131 letters from the poet T.S. Eliot to his muse Emily Hale. Among the first people to read them was the biographer Lyndall Gordon, whose book tells the extraordinary story of their passionate correspondence.
They met in 1905, when Eliot was an awkward 17-year-old and Emily just 14. A shy courtship ended when Eliot left to study in Europe, but news of his sudden marriage must have come as a shock.
His letters reveal Emily as the 'hyacinth girl' of his poem The Waste Land, and the inspiration behind many of his poems.
He may have brutally dismissed their relationship as 'the love of a ghost for a ghost', but his letters tell a different story.
Married couples are healthier, making them more productive and less of a drain on the NHS
THE MARRIAGE ACT
by John Marrs (Pan £9.99, 496pp)
Married couples are healthier, making them more productive and less of a drain on the NHS.
This, at least, is the propaganda put out by a British government of the near future, which has passed a Sanctity of Marriage Act, under which couples who sign up to the Smart Marriage scheme enjoy benefits such as generous tax allowances, housing in exclusive communities and access to top-quality schools and healthcare.
The catch is that a device known as an Audite (like a more intrusive Alexa) monitors all their interactions, calling in relationship counsellors at the first sign of disharmony, and even forcing divorce and remarriage in some cases.
In Marrs' chilling thriller, vlogger Roxi, seemingly perfect couple Noah and Luca, and Corrine, who campaigns against Smart Marriage, discover the corrosive effects of mixing politics with love.
A builder knocking down a wall in a tea rooms in the quiet town of King's Lynn makes a grisly discovery: a skeleton
THE LEAST REMAINS
by Elly Griffiths (Quercus £9.99, 384pp)
A builder knocking down a wall in a tea rooms in the quiet town of King's Lynn makes a grisly discovery: a skeleton.
Dr Ruth Galloway is already having a bad day when she receives the call asking her to investigate. She is head of the archaeology department at the University of North Norfolk, which is in danger of being closed down.
As the campaign to save the department gathers pace, Ruth finds herself embroiled in a murder investigation. The skeleton is that of Emily Pickering, a Cambridge archaeology student who went missing in the 1990s. Suspicion falls on her tutor, Dr Ballard, and Ruth's old friend, a druid called Cathbad.
Mixing spine-tingling jeopardy with warm-hearted domestic drama, this is an irresistible addition to the series.
