THE PALACE OF WISDOM: Maria C McCarthy is intrigued by John O’Donoghue’s historical novel, which draws on a fictional connection between the poets Robert Lowell and John Clare
Ode to the Boy-Rabbit: Ifésinàchi Nwàdiké reviews Wayne Holloway-Smith’s RABBITBOX
Poetry review – LETTERS FOR JOHN: Alex Josephy is moved by the memories Carole Coates continues to share with her late husband
Richard Dadd. Review by Barbara Lewis. A friend of the young Richard Dadd when he was one of the stars of the Royal Academy of Arts referred to his “rich voice as full of music as a joy-bell” and his “sportive humour, exciting innocent mirth”. A few years later, Dadd had stabbed his father to death during a psychotic episode. Dadd avoided hanging but spent the rest of his life locked away – first in the Bethlem Royal Hospital and then in Broadmoor.
The Master Builder. Review by Barbara Lewis. On one of its many levels, Henrik Ibsen’s “The Master Builder” is an exploration of whether human beings can make things happen, good or bad, by sheer force of will. The alternative possibilities are that they are manipulated by dark, troll-like forces or that God is the supreme architect to whose designs a pious bourgeoisie must dutifully submit.
Poetry review – SOME DARK GOD: Rachel Jeffcoat lets Catherine Balaq’s poems take her into some intriguingly dark places
Poetry review – CANDLELIGHT: Nick Cooke enjoys the way that Sean Street’s poems play with sound as well as with the illumination implied by the title
Salo. Review by Alan Price. What was, in the opinion of critic Robin Wood, perhaps the most shocking film in the history of cinema, has become, for me, an apolitical horror with really shocking moments and uncomfortable ideas. Salo is concerned with new fascism more than old fascism.
Poetry review – A LITTLE BRIDGE: Jennifer Johnson appreciates Alex Josephy’s poetic perspectives on bridges as connections and as ways of getting past obstacles
Bunk’Art 2. Review by Barbara Lewis. In the just over a century since Albania became an independent country, it has been a monarchy, endured Fascist occupation and spent nearly 50 years as an isolated Communist dictatorship, mostly under the rule of Enver Hoxha. Hoxha died in 1985 and the Communist Party collapsed in 1990, heralding a turbulent transition to a market economy.
The Banality of Evil. Review by Barbara Lewis. “The banality of evil” is a concept expounded by Hannah Arendt in her 1963 book on Adolf Eichmann, one of the organisers of the Nazi Holocaust. It refers to the theory that evil is committed not out of malice but out of thoughtlessness and it is highly relevant to our polarised times when people blindly follow trending ideas and theatre security has to be elevated around the staging of a Jewish play.
Poetry review – THE BEAT THE PULSE THE WAVE: Colin Pink enjoys some vivid personal memories retold as poems by Jeremy Dixon
By Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • added recently on London Grip, books, poetry reviews, year 2026 • Tags: books, Colin Pink, poetry