MUST READS
MUST READS
The Other Half
by Charlotte Vassell
Faber £9.99, 400 pp
(Faber £9.99, 400 pp)
Debauched aristocrat Rupert Beauchamp has an amusing idea for his 30th birthday party — he has booked a room at a London Mcdonald’s, usually used for children’s parties but, on this occasion, with plenty of Champagne and less legal intoxicants.
The only problem is his girlfriend, Clemmie, hasn’t turned up. Annoying, as he planned to dump her.
On an effortful run up Parliament Hill, Detective Inspector Caius Beauchamp (no relation), finds the body of a young woman — the missing Clemmie.
Instinct tells him Rupert was involved in her murder, but his alibi is impregnable. Vassell’s sharply witty debut novel is an enticing blend of frothy social satire and deadly serious detective work.
Karl Lagerfeld
by Alfons Kaiser
Thames & Hudson £12.99, 384 pp
(Thames & Hudson £12.99, 384 pp)
With his immaculately groomed white ponytail, eyes for ever hidden behind dark glasses, designer Karl Lagerfeld, who died in 2019 aged 85, could seem unknowable.
His public utterances were often spiky, and his passion seemed confined to his work and adored cat, Choupette — reportedly left a fortune in his will.
Meticulously researched, Kaiser’s biography explores Lagerfeld’s relationship with his distant father and hypercritical mother — he once said he had spent his life overcompensating, after she called him stupid as a child.
From his rivalry with Yves Saint Laurent — both were in love with decadent dandy Jacques de Bascher — to his generosity that contrasted with his famous ruthlessness, this is a fascinating portrait of a brilliantly complex man.
The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho
by Paterson Joseph
Dialogue Books £9.99, 432 pp
(Dialogue Books £9.99, 432 pp)
Born on a slave ship in 1729, Charles Ignatius Sancho was taken to England and left with three maiden ladies in Greenwich, who treated him as a pet.
Encouraged to read, write and compose music by their neighbour, Lord Montagu, Charles is harshly punished by his mistresses for his accomplishments.
Eventually, he escapes, only to find himself wandering the streets of London, trying to avoid the dreaded slave-catcher.
But Charles’s charm captivates the great and good, including the artist Thomas Gainsborough, who paints his portrait, and actor-manager David Garrick, who casts him as Othello.
He becomes a prosperous merchant, doting husband and father and an anti-slavery campaigner.
Based on the writings of the real Sancho, this is a moving and vivid account of the life and times of a remarkable man.
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