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The Kokomo author’s second novel interrogates the bizarre realm of grief in a beautifully tuned story about inconsolable loss

Während des Zweiten Weltkriegs führte die Stuttgarter Schriftstellerin Anna Haag ein geheimes Tagebuch. Scharfsichtig, wütend und voll bitterer Ironie zeichnete sie ein schonungsloses Bild ihrer Landsleute – und enthüllte, in welchem Ausmaß diese von deutschen Untaten Kenntnis hatten.

HarperCollins, 512pp, £20 When Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space 60 years ago, the KGB wanted to send a bomb with him. The point of the bomb was not that it could be dropped on the US but that, in the event that his Vostok craft came down on foreign soil, Gagarin and his ship could be remotely destroyed. The bomb idea was eventually overruled but, had Gagarin not survived his flight, the world might never have known his name. The same applied to the man who put him in space, Sergei...

Loneliness is still something we don’t want to talk about or see The lone Queen at Prince Philip’s funeral was enough to soften any republican heart The Queen takes her seat during the funeral of Prince Philip Credit: WPA Pool/Getty The Queen all alone, with a mask and brimmed hat, was an image that melted even my hardened republican heart. Could no one sit near her when she had been fully vaccinated and now that restrictions are starting to lift? Something was being over-egged here. If th...