Court Number One
Thomas Grant
John Murray, £25, pp448
Many of the nation’s most notorious trials have taken place at the intimidating Court Number One at the Old Bailey. In his excellent second book, barrister and author Thomas Grant offers detailed accounts of 11 of those cases, with protagonists ranging from the diabolical (Peter Sutcliffe, Ian Huntley) to the pathetic, including the Profumo patsy Stephen Ward and the unjustly executed Timothy Evans, stooge for 10 Rillington Place’s John Christie. There is plenty of humour throughout, not least from out-of-touch judges bewildered by “that Greek chap, clitoris”, but this is ultimately an affecting study of how the law gets it right – and wrong.
The Fire Starters
Jan Carson
Doubleday, £14.99, pp304
Many novels have attempted to tackle the Troubles and their legacy, but rarely have they approached the subject with the boldness and flair of Jan Carson. Juxtaposing two narratives, that of a reformed terrorist, Sammy Agnew, and a young doctor, Jonathan Murray, Carson offers a powerful treatise, shot through with flashes of magical realism, of the way man hands on misery to man. Although set 16 years after the ceasefire, it is not too difficult to imagine a world in which “fire, rage and chaos” throng the streets once more and Carson’s chilling tale uses its heightened situations and language to fine effect.
Unsheltered
Barbara Kingsolver
Faber, £8.99, pp544 (paperback)
Barbara Kingsolver’s latest novel may be set partly in 1870s New Jersey, but its concerns are decidedly contemporary. The storyline revolves around the writer Willa Knox, who inherits the house that belonged to the former science teacher Thatcher Greenwood, a man of principle who outraged the supposedly utopian community, Vineland, by preaching the virtues of Darwinism. There are hints of AS Byatt’s Possession here in the way in which the dual narratives inform one another, and, although there are occasional longueurs, Kingsolver’s concern with how intolerance can poison both a community and individuals alike feels chillingly relevant in the age of Trump.
• To order Court Number One: The Old Bailey Trials That Defined Modern Britain,The Fire Starters or Unsheltered, go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £15, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99
