Young Once: A Life Less Heavy Nigel Planer: The real life of Neil the hippy

The 23 most mouthwatering cookbooks to tickle the tastebuds of your foodie friends and family

So which of these jingle your bells? Our reviewers pick the best fiction books of 2025

The spy who brought sex to the English stage

Bringing the joy back into wine... one glass at a time

The story of how society turned its back on Oscar Wilde from his only living grandson

The best literary fiction out now: The Silver Book by Olivia Laing, One Aladdin, Two Lamps by Jeanette Winterson, Archipelago of the Sun by Yoko Tawada

The best children's fiction out now: PORRIDGE PLEASE! by Laura Mucha Illustrated by Marc Boutavant, ROBIN by Sarah Ann Juckes, WE FELL APART by E. Lockhart

This poisonous tale is a deadly festive treat: Death in Ambush by Susan Gilruth, Murder on the Great Northern Railway by Edward Marston, Maigret's Holiday by Georges Simenon

Embrace the cold with Val McDermid

Why nuclear war is closer than ever: That's the chilling verdict of historian SERHII PLOKHY who reveals the FORTY countries which could blow the world apart... and the timebomb that could trigger ash-flecked annihilation

They're masters of the dark political arts, they know the peccadilloes of every MP, but how do the Whips get their way in Westminster? Secrets, lies and a taste for torture...

Secrets, lies and a taste for torture...How Whips work in the Westminster shadows

The truth about Joan of Arc's heavenly visions

Dazzling good literary fiction out this week: ON THE CALCULATION OF VOLUME III by Solvej Ball, LIGHTBREAKERS by Aja Gabel, THE MATCHBOX GIRL by Alice Jolly