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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Osip Mandelstam: A Biography by Ralph Dutli, translated by Ben Fowkes (Verso)
This life of “legendary literary saint”, Osip Mandelstam, provides a timely reminder of both the long history of repression in Russia and the powerful role that literature can play. Dutli’s rounded portrait of a Russian poet unafraid to speak truth to power brings to life the man and his time.
Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life by Anna Funder (Viking/Knopf)
Funder, author of Stasiland, her prizewinning account of the East German secret police, takes six letters written by Eileen O’Shaughnessy, George Orwell’s first wife, as the imaginative springboard for a deep dive into their relationship and her impact on his writing and legacy. A haunting, tragic and revealing book.
The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes who Created the Oxford English Dictionary by Sarah Ogilvie (Chatto & Windus)
A former editor of the Oxford English Dictionary herself, Ogilvie has written a “people’s history” of the great lexicographical endeavour. Begun in 1879, the OED is an epic, crowdsourced attempt to pin down slippery, evolving language; this book tells the fascinating story of its eclectic and unsung contributors.
Ian Fleming: The Complete Man by Nicholas Shakespeare (Harvill Secker)
Shakespeare, renowned biographer of Bruce Chatwin, reveals a story worthy of a Bond novel in his life of Ian Fleming. The painstakingly researched yet fast-paced book explores Fleming’s childhood, dramatic war years and complex personal life and reveals how they shaped his hugely successful books.
The Secret Life of John le Carré by Adam Sisman (Profile/Harper)
A follow-up to his 2015 biography of le Carré, who died in 2020, Sisman’s latest book exposes the great spy writer’s duplicitous and deceitful relationships with the women in his life, providing new insights into the inner workings of the man who created George Smiley. A fascinating, revelatory appendix to Sisman’s fuller life.
A Day in the Life of Abed Salama by Nathan Thrall (Allen Lane/Metropolitan Books)
This quietly heartbreaking work of non-fiction reads like a novel. At its centre is a tragic road accident outside Jerusalem in the West Bank from which Thrall, a Jewish American journalist, carefully traces the labyrinthine lives of those involved and the tangled web of politics, history and culture that ensnare them all.
Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge from Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic by Simon Winchester (William Collins)
From clay tablets to digital ones, Winchester explores 5,000 years of human knowledge and how it is stored and accessed. Told in a quirky, eclectic and engaging style that jumps between ideas and back and forth through time, this book is a celebration of human thought, curiosity and ingenuity.
Lifescapes: A Biographer’s Search for the Soul by Ann Wroe (Jonathan Cape)
Just as scientists wrestle with what defines the essence of life, Wroe — obituaries editor of The Economist — contends with the myriad details that can bring someone fleetingly back to life on the page. This thought-provoking and beautifully written book blends memoir with poetry and biography in search of what elements can evoke the character of a person.
Books of the Year 2023
All this week, FT writers and critics shared their favourites. Some highlights are:
Monday: Business by Andrew Hill
Tuesday: Environment by Pilita Clark
Wednesday: Economics by Martin Wolf
Thursday: Fiction by Laura Battle and Andrew Dickson
Friday: Politics by Gideon Rachman
Saturday: Critics’ choice
Tell us what you think
What are your favourites from this list — and what books have we missed? Tell us in the comments below
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