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Loved Ones: Introduction

Ian Jack

One of the world's unfair divisions is that between the writer and the written-about, and this is nowhere more true than in the literary form called the memoir.

On the Road Again: Introduction

Ian Jack

‘Switzerland absolutely fulfils our idea of the picturesque’

Bye-Bye Natalia

Michel Faber

‘Natalia picks at the frayed black lace of her dress while the photograph of her American penpal loads into the computer.’

The End of Travel

James Hamilton-Paterson

‘The more we flock to view the disappearing glaciers, the faster they will vanish.’

Matrilineal

Tessa Hadley

‘One night forty years ago Helen Cerruti left her husband.’

Homage to Mount Desert Island

Mark Haworth-Booth

‘A cow was on the wrong side of the fence on Crooked Road on May 26.’

Introduction: God’s Own Countries

Ian Jack

‘The idea of God as creator and custodian died, and many words in the old vocabulary were robbed of their potency.’

A Conversation with Orhan Pamuk

Maureen Freely

‘How do you hold your own in such a climate?’

Nell Freudenberger | God and Me

Nell Freudenberger

‘When I was seven, I sat down to draw God. God wore a pirate shirt, purple harem pants and a red fez.’

God and Me

Simon Gray

‘I'd grown up and become too educated to allow God's breath on my skin.’

The War of the Ears

Moses Isegawa

‘It was a victory to arrive home. Ma Beeda always celebrated with a strong cup of tea.’

Beethoven Was One Sixteenth Black

Nadine Gordimer

‘Once there were blacks wanting to be white. Now there are whites wanting to be black.’

The Witch’s Dog

Helon Habila

‘The old witch, Nana Mudo, lived alone with her dog on the other side of the grove.’

We Love China

Lindsey Hilsum

‘Africa looks to China and sees success’