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The Mitford Spirit

Face Value

A new book considers the fate of our most human aspects—the mystery of the brain, the expressiveness of the face—in our tech-bent future

Max Hastings

On the best work of Sir Michael Howard, the British historian who dealt high intellect and common sense in equal measure

Some Like It Hot

Yalta Diaries

The North Korean Job

The author of the first English-language book on Kim Jong Un explains the dotard-trolling dictator’s mysterious rise

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Fiend

Vive Maigret!

The complete adventures of Georges Simenon’s beloved inspector are now available in one stylish set

Party On

Leslie Jamison

On the books worth obsessing over

Criminal Minds

The author of a new book on Dorothy L. Sayers reflects on the magic born of the novelist’s collaboration with her fellow Oxford women

Murder, They Wrote

Africa’s World War

Wanderers in the Woods

Marie Kondo

On the titles worth keeping on your magically tidied-up bookshelf

Dead Prime Ministers Society

A rare look inside Eton, Britain’s most respected (and reviled) boarding school

Lee Child

On the unlikely books that offer a break from your routine reads

Test of Faith

Prince Among Men

The photographer behind My Name Is Prince, the largest-ever collection of images of the star, recalls the extraordinary experience of being in his orbit

It’s Complicated

Bonjour Tristesse

Once again, the French novelist Michel Houellebecq is a step ahead of current events. But his themes are timeless

First Impressions

A new book remembers more than a decade spent in the orbit of Beckett and de Beauvoir. Here, its author describes her early encounters with the literary stars

Apollonia Poilâne

The woman behind the legendary Paris bakery recommends the best cookbooks

Pre-War Prima Donna