FictionReviewA fable about forbidden love in the first world war fails to convinceJohn Boyne is the kind of writer described as a "popular novelist". He certainly is that, in the literal sense that his novel for younger readers, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – concerning the friendship between the son of a concentration camp commandant and a child inmate – has sold 5m copies. It was contended by some that Boyne, a young Irishman, had no right to visit such highly charged territory, to which he gracefully responded by asking whether only the people who were in the camps were entitled to write about them, and pointing out that his own work might lead readers to other books, "
The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty review a riveting debut about love and cruelty
FictionReviewThe ecstatic mingles with the banal in a novel about lives lived too close for comfort in an apartment block in rust-belt Indiana
“On a hot night in Apartment C4, Blandine Watkins exits her body. She is only 18, but she has spent most of her life wishing for this to happen,” begins The Rabbit Hutch. “The mystics call this experience the Transverberation of the Heart, or the Seraph’s Assault, but no angel appears to Blandine.
9/11 hijacker made last 'I love you' call | World news
World news9/11 hijacker made last 'I love you' callA Hamburg court was given an insight yesterday into the last hours of one of the alleged pilots in the September 11 attacks during the trial of Mounir el-Motassadeq, a Moroccan accused of being the paymaster for the al-Qaida cell which led the strikes.
Aysel Sengun, the German girlfriend of Ziad Jarrah, 26, who is believed to have flown the aircraft that crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers apparently stormed the cockpit, said he had called to tell her he loved her.
Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams review a gentle, hopeful story
Book of the dayFictionReviewBased on real events, this tale of the OED’s compilation explores how words take on different meanings for men and women In 1901, a concerned member of the public wrote to the men compiling the first Oxford English Dictionary to let them know that there was a word missing. In 1857 the Unregistered Words Committee of the Philological Society of London had decided that Britain needed a successor to Samuel Johnson’s 1755 dictionary.
I was an astrologer here's how it really works, and why I had to stop
Life and styleCustomers marvelled at my psychic abilities but was that really what was going on when I told their fortune?
The man was agitated, with red-rimmed eyes and clammy skin.
“Help me,” he said. “I’m under a curse.”
At first it was just flickering lights, he said. And then a figure, at the edge of his vision. Now something grabbed his fingers or stroked his arm. There was more – and it was happening more frequently.
King Charles redirects 1bn windfarm profits towards public good | Monarchy
Monarchy This article is more than 1 year oldKing Charles redirects £1bn windfarm profits towards ‘public good’This article is more than 1 year oldEnergy agreements have generated windfall that would normally go towards monarchy
From the archive: How the monarchy came to own the seabed around Britain
King Charles has asked for profits from a £1bn-a-year crown estate windfarm deal to be used for the “wider public good” rather than as extra funding for the monarchy.
Maid in England
RereadingAutobiography and memoirMargaret Powell's Below Stairs recalls a life in service between the first and second world warsIn 1968 first-time author Margaret Powell published Below Stairs, a memoir of the 10 years she had spent in domestic service earlier in the century. The book sold 14,000 copies in the first 12 months, a figure described both at the time and since as "huge". In fact, the figure is good but not spectacular.
Manchester City's Micah Richards banned from driving for six months | Manchester City
Manchester City This article is more than 10 years oldManchester City's Micah Richards banned from driving for six monthsThis article is more than 10 years old Richards failed to respond to two speeding notices
Defender becomes third City player to be banned this monthThe Manchester City's defender Micah Richards has became the third player from the club to receive a six-month driving ban this month.
The England international was disqualified after he failed to respond to two speeding notices sent to his home address.
10 of the best Somerset pubs with beer gardens or outdoor space
Somerset holidaysSoak up the views, great ales and ciders, and homemade food at our selection of characterful and historic inns
The Sheppey Inn, Lower GodneyAs anyone who stumbles on to the @NormalForGlastonbury Instagram account recognises, the town with the Tor likes to do things differently, a mindset that extends to the local pubs. One of the most distinctive, however, is 10 minutes’ drive north of the town in the Somerset Levels, in a 17th-century former cider house in the village of Godney.
Coca-Cola trials sweet, fizzy, milky 'vibrancy' drink in three US cities | Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola This article is more than 14 years oldCoca-Cola trials sweet, fizzy, milky 'vibrancy' drink in three US citiesThis article is more than 14 years oldSoft drinks giant launches new Vio drink in New York but no word yet on whether it will reach the UKIt may not quite sound the real thing but consumers are being asked to decide whether milk goes better with sparkling water, cane sugar and fruit flavouring.