A. L. Kennedy, Nikita Lalwani, Carmel Harrington and Ingrid Persaud: This week’s best new fiction

From A. L. Kennedy’s new collection to novels by Nikita Lalwani and Carmel Harrington and Ingrid Persaud’s debut, this week’s best new fiction By Max Davidson and Anthony Gardner and Hephzibah Anderson and Madeleine Feeny Published: 22:01 BST, 11 April 2020 | Updated: 22:01 BST, 11 April 2020 We Are Attempting To Survive Our Time … Read more

Anne Tyler is a magician. You finish her delightful new novel feeling closer to life

Redhead By The Side Of The Road Anne Tyler Chatto & Windus £14.99 Rating: On one level, the novels of Anne Tyler are as straightforward and unobtrusive as her name. Her prose style is clear and unshowy. Her sentences have no flourishes. You could almost say that their only identifying feature is their lack of … Read more

On The Road by James Naughtie review: A sublime tapestry of the USA in all its glory and complexity

On The Road James Naughtie                                                                     Simon & Schuster £20 Rating: As a young student with journalistic ambitions, the broadcaster and former Radio … Read more

From Jodie Comer in Killing Eve to Michael Palin In North Korea: The best on demand TV this week

BBC iPLAYER & ALL 4 Killing Eve International hitwoman Villanelle and MI6 operative Eve did not exactly part on the best of terms at the end of last series, and things are not going particularly well for either of them at the start of Series Three.  Villanelle (Jodie Comer, above with Stefan Iancu) and Eve … Read more

The most serious story of my lifetime – and I looked like a human pumpkin…

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1 In the spirit of April Fool’s Day, I accidentally selected the wrong make-up in the Good Morning Britain studio at 5am today (we’re self-facially-decorating now) and painted myself bright orange. I only realised when viewers bombarded me on Twitter with pictures of my head next to one of perma-tanned President Trump with … Read more