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Charlie Mackesy on The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse: 'It's humbling... The reaction was beyond anything I ever imagined'Charlie Mackesy is the author and illustrator of The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, the bestselling — and hugely poignant — book that celebrates kindness and understanding. He spoke to Katy Birchall about why there’s no shame in showing weakness and asking for help.
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With love from Father Christmas: J.R.R. Tolkien's enchanting Christmas letters to his childrenFor nearly a quarter of a century, J. R. R. Tolkien sent his children elaborate letters and pictures from the North Pole. Ben Lerwill explores the penmanship, kindness and magic that went into Letters From Father Christmas.
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A beginner’s guide to fermentation: ‘After two days it smelt distinctly cheesy, but better at least than the dead-badger smell I was expecting’From sauerkraut and kombucha fruit leather to pickled plums and honey marmalade, the art of fermentation is one well worth learning, advocates lifelong forager John Wright.
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Ponden Hall: The house that inspired Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights comes up for saleA hugely charismatic country house in Yorkshire has come to the market, one with a great literary claim to fame: it was the inspiration for Emily Brontë's seminal novel Wuthering Heights.
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Gilbert White: The naturalist whose poetic but precise words changed how we see the worldThe writings of churchman and naturalist Gilbert White are as beautifully exquisite as they are scientifically precise. 300 years from his birth and John Lewis-Stempel
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In Focus — Poet Laureate Simon Armitage: 'Someone once told me I have a child's eye, probably as an insult, but I took it as an enormous compliment'Jack Watkins spoke to the Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage, about writing, the environment and refusing to write about Brexit.
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Nine novels which will transport you around the world — and inspire your post-lockdown travel plansRosie Paterson rounds up the books to read now, and the places they're set in to travel to later.
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The best characters created Charles Dickens, still utterly unforgettable even 150 years after his deathCharles Dickens died 150 years ago, on 9 June 1870. Since then, Mr Micawber has become a byword for optimism, Scrooge for meanness and Uriah Heep for obsequiousness, and we still quote Mr Bumble’s ‘the law is an ass’. Rupert Godsal explains why these characters are so exuberantly unforgettable.
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In Focus: The greatest books ever written about theatre, as chosen by Michael BillingtonMichael Billington has been the theatre critic for Country Life (and several other publications) for decades. With theatres closed, he's turned his hand to picking out his 10 favourite books about theatrical life.
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How Anna Sewell wrote Black Beauty, the 'hymn to a horse' whose influence on animals is still felt todayA hymn to the horse, a comment on slavery, an ode to rural Norfolk: Anna Sewell’s enduringly popular novel is all this and more 200 years after its author’s birth, explains James Clarke.
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A celebration of pheasants, 'some of the most beautiful birds in the world'We tend to think of pheasants as a relatively ordinary sight, but they're among the world's most beautiful birds — and they're being celebrated in a handsome new book.
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The greatest children's books that hit the spot for young and old, as chosen by Alan Titchmarsh, Jilly Cooper, Ian Rankin and moreChildren’s books offer an escape from reality that can last well into adulthood. Here's our pick of the very best.
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11 hauntingly beautiful pictures of dogs in cars from one of the most unusual and touching books of the yearA fascination with dogs and cars has prompted photographer Martin Usborne to produce a beautiful, unusual and gently haunting book.
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Curious Questions: How the Monkey Puzzle tree get its name?One of the most curious trees you'll see in Britain is also one of the most curiously-named: the Monkey Puzzle tree. But how did it get its name?
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In Focus: The scandalous child of Empire, the murderous photographer and the woman who fatally brought them togetherEadweard Muybridge was not only the pioneering photographer of motion, but also a murderer. Jason Goodwin relishes this tale of the dashing rogue and adventurer who became his victim.
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Cider with Rosie uncovered: A look into the idyllic scenes of Laurie Lee’s classic novelDerek Turner takes a look at 'Down in the Valley', a slender, but well-conceived volume that revisits the scenes of Laurie Lee's classic of English rural writing.
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Curious Questions: Would Anne Brontë be more famous without her two sisters?To mark the forgotten Brontë’s 200th birthday, Charlotte Cory looks back at the life and works of this ‘runt of the literary litter’ and finds she was by no means meek and mild.
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Seven astonishing books to read which will change your understanding of the history of the worldIf you were left a tad disappointed by your Christmas presents, you can console yourself with two things. Firstly, by reminding yourself that it really is the thought that counts; and secondly, by putting things right with one of these astonishing and eye-opening tomes, picked out by Barnaby Rogerson.
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Jason Goodwin: Naughty mandarins, the GIs who changed Chinese cooking and an app which almost beats readingOur columnist picks not just his books of the year, but also his favourite app and YouTube video.
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Quentin Blake: 'Even in the age of the iPad and the smart phone, books offer things that they cannot'Sir Quentin Blake reveals the inspiration behind his new exhibition, ‘Anthology of Readers’, in which he affectionately caricatures the bookish among us.
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Curious Questions: Have you been taking books off shelves the wrong way for your entire life?The question of how to take a book off a shelf without damaging it may not be one you've ever given much thought to — but you owe it to your collection to do it the right way.
