Book of the dayFictionReviewThe author of the controversial Will and Testament reopens old wounds in this gripping account of family trauma
Last time the Norwegian author Vigdis Hjorth wrote about an estranged daughter, in her 2016 novel Will and Testament, she caused ructions with her family, who felt the novel was too autobiographical for comfort.
In that chilling book, which Charlotte Barslund translated into English in 2019, a row over inheritance prompts the main character, Bergljot, to confront her family about claims her father sexually abused her as a child.
Donald TrumpReviewThe former White House press secretary also has political ambitions of her own, back home in Arkansas
Trump told Sanders to ‘take one for the team’ after Kim wink Toward the end of Speaking for Myself, Sarah Huckabee Sanders recalls a conversation with Donald Trump in which she advises him her book will be aimed at defending his reputation.
'Trump has a different leadership style': David Rubenstein plays it by the bookRead more“I think you will like it,” says the president’s second press secretary.
TheatreReviewBotanic Gardens, GlasgowProductions of A Midsummer Night's Dream are ten a penny. This month alone, there have been outdoor performances in both Glasgow and Edinburgh. Such cheery familiarity makes it too easy to glide over Shakespeare's troubling themes of desire, sexuality and death in favour of a funny Bottom.
The brilliance of David Leddy's Sussurus - the word, usually spelled "susurrus", refers to the sound of the wind in the trees - is that it wheedles out these darker themes and presents them back to us newly minted in a modern-day tale of sexual charisma, power and abuse.
Tissue from five weeks of pregnancy to nine weeks. Photograph: MYA NetworkTissue from five weeks of pregnancy to nine weeks. Photograph: MYA NetworkAbortionIn 13 US states, abortion is banned even in the earliest stages of pregnancy. But we rarely see what such tissue really looks like
Abortion is now banned or severely restricted in 14 states in the US, the outcome of a decades-long campaign by anti-abortion advocates. In many states, abortion is no longer seen as a health procedure, but a morality issue.
Pop and rock'I am a hit machine ... I just roll 'em out!'Skinny jeans and catchy hooks have made the Kooks a 'priority act' in the post-boyband world. Sophie Heawood follows them to Japan to find out how they got so good at playing the pop gameThe bar on the 40th floor of the Cerulean Tower hotel buzzes with the discreet hum of money. Wealthy Japanese lean into their tables, talking in hushed tones to ladies who twirl their hair around their fingers, distracted by the Tokyo neon glimmering through the huge panoramic windows.
Bill WithersObituaryBill Withers obituaryAmerican soul singer who enjoyed huge success with hits such as Lean on Me and Ain’t No SunshineThe career of Bill Withers, who has died aged 81 of heart complications, followed an unusual trajectory. He did not try to enter the music industry until after he had spent nine years in the US Navy, leaving the service in 1965 and moving to Los Angeles two years later. By the time he released his debut album, Just As I Am, in 1971 he was 33, an age at which many pop careers have already been and gone.
Jay Rayner on restaurantsTravelReviewSimon Rogan's cooking has found a new home at Claridge's. But at these prices, you're better going back to the originalClaridge's, Brook Street, London W1 (020 7107 8888). Meal for two including drinks and service: £300
I can't understand why people are making such a fuss about how tough it is to get a table at Simon Rogan's new restaurant, Fera, at Claridge's. Yes, the hold music punctuated only by the filthy lie that a real human being will be with you shortly – I gave up repeatedly without speaking to anyone with a pulse – is trying.
AfghanistanFour of six aboard private jet survive crash in AfghanistanRescue teams find charter ambulance flight from Thailand to Moscow after it disappeared from radar screens Four people are reported to have survived after a private jet carrying out a medical evacuation from Thailand to Russia disappeared from radar screens and crashed in a remote and mountainous area of north-eastern Afghanistan on Saturday.
Russian aviation authorities said two passengers and four crew members were onboard the charter ambulance flight, which was travelling from Utapao airport, near Pattaya, to Moscow via India and Uzbekistan.
World newsLast supper for boy killer on death rowLike lots of other people, Chris Thomas will settle down tonight in front of a dinner of fried chicken, French fries and apple pie. Unlike the others, though, Thomas does so knowing it is only a few hours until $86.06 worth of chemicals are injected into his veins to stop his heart.
"I've seen the [prison] officers eating fried chicken," he said yesterday, dressed in regulation orange jumpsuit and sitting 20ft from the execution chamber in Greenville prison, Virginia.
CultureJohn Irving reckons his novel A Prayer for Owen Meany is unfilmable. So why does the National Theatre think it can work on stage?'People have written to me that they have had religious, or near-religious experiences from reading A Prayer for Owen Meany," says novelist John Irving. This work, which has now been adapted for the National Theatre, is the kind of book people get obsessed by; the kind of book that inspires people to email unofficial fansites saying things like: "