WINTER READS Books chosen by boys, beaks and staff All books are available from the Vaughan Library The Western Wind The Betrayals by Bridget Collins by Samantha Harvey A compelling, magical and forensically It’s set in Oakham in Somerset in crafted book about the ‘grand jeu’, an medieval times and Harvey’s writing archaic game which combines music, is so rich that the sense of place maths and movement. Set in the 1930s and time is incredibly vivid. There in an unnamed (but familiar) European is an interesting cast of characters country, it’s an unusual and complex and an intriguing mystery story that story based on Herman Hesse’s The unfolds in reverse, which really keeps Glass Bead Game. you engaged. I would definitely recommend it. Recommended by Clare Wilkins, Assistant Librarian Recommended by Kirsty Matthews, Academic Principal HSSC 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari The follow up to Sapiens and Homo English Pastoral by James Rebanks Deus. I am recommending it as I The author – a sheep farmer from the believe all Harrovians should read it Lake District and Oxford graduate to broaden their understanding of our – gives us a unique and eloquent species: our past, present and future. account of how farming has shaped, and continues to shape, our rural Recommended by Gregory Warmback, British landscape. This urgent, Development Officer necessary treatise is infused with the hard-fought, first-hand experience of an earnest man grappling with how to V2 by Robert Harris pay the bills and yet, at the same time, A gripping story of espionage that carve out a patch of England that cares focuses on the deadly Nazi V2 rocket intimately about wildlife, nature and programme. the social heritage of his craft. Recommended by JPM Recommended by RCHA Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz A labyrinth of clues. A mystery novel Reality and other Stories hiding a deadly secret. A killer with a by John Lanchester fiendish plot: a brilliantly intricate and A disquieting collection of sinister original thriller from the bestselling stories about the perils of technology author of Magpie Murders. and contemporary culture. Recommended by Daniel Sidhom (The Recommended by Clare Wilkins, Knoll, Lower Sixth) Assistant Librarian Sex Power Money by Sara Pascoe The Omnivores Dilemma A funny book with serious intent, by Michael Pollan Sex Power Money interrogates this Acclaimed food writer Michael Pollan contentious triptych and examines sets out to answer the question “what the links between the three. Asking should we have for dinner?”. The book uncompromising questions about follows three vastly different meals the sex industry, objectification and from paddock to plate and, in doing so, the erotic allure of immense wealth, evaluates industrial farming, organic Pascoe offers a splenetic, incisive and certification, hunting and foraging. It is frequently hilarious account of the fascinating read at a time when global modern condition. food systems are being strained by a pandemic and a growing population. Recommended by Marie Staunton, Head of Library and Archive Recommended by OWM Troy by Stephen Fry The Thursday Murder Club A lively and entertaining re-telling of by Richard Osman the Trojan myth. Richard Osman’s debut novel is a welcome addition to the detective Recommended by Clare Wilkins, fiction genre. A group of older people Assistant Librarian living in a retirement village keep themselves active by investigating old murders. They are then drawn to investigate a murder on their own doorstep. It is understated, humorous and well written. It also tackles issues Milkman by Anna Burns of aging, usefulness and dementia in a It’s a clever, witty and entertaining charming and thoughtful manner. read set in the depth of the Troubles in the early 1970s. If the Northern Irish Recommended by Amada Deal, dialect is a new experience, you will Assistant Librarian quickly fall in with the writing style. Recommended by Ralph Arundell, The Swerve: How the Renaissance Director of Operations Began by Stephen Greenblatt It is all about a 15th-century Italian Humanist who is chasing around Journey to the River Sea Europe looking for classical texts, by Eva Ibbotson when he stumbles across Lucretius’ On I loved reading this book because the Nature of Things, which Greenblatt of the calm, beautiful descriptions argues is a fundamental text that dotted throughout the text and reshaped how we viewed the world. because it really conveyed a powerful The second chapter, which is all about and valuable meaning of adventure how the monasteries preserved texts and courage. for the best part of 1,000 years, is wittily written. Greenblatt talks about Recommended by Saarvin Cambatta- how the monks had ‘reading periods’ Mistry (Lyon’s, Shell) and were punished if they did not take it seriously... It all sounds very familiar! The Narrow Land Recommended by JESB by Christine Dwyer Hickey It’s about the painter Edward Hopper and his wife, and a young refugee from A Hundred Years of Solitude the war in Germany who befriends by Gabriel Garcia Marquez them. It is set in Cape Cod on the coast I like the book because, with its where they had a holiday home and is imaginative blend of magic, fantasy, a wonderful evocation of that part of and reality, the whole novel morphs the world and the lives of Hopper and into one beautiful poem of history, the people living there in the years progress and human life. after the war. Recommended by Vincent Song (The Recommended by Caroline Sampson, Head Master’s, Remove) House Masters’ Secretary Snow by John Banville This Lovely City by Louise Hare A classic murder mystery, Banville’s A tale of young love and shameful depiction of the new Republic of prejudice with a disturbing mystery, Ireland is fascinating. Strafford’s all set in 1950s’ Brixton. Lawrie has investigation is hampered by the settled, along with many of his fellow Roman Catholic Church whose grip — Windrush passengers, to build a new politically and emotionally — is evident life in a country that needs him but over the country and its people. may not want him. Recommended by Marie Staunton, Recommended by Marie Staunton, Head of Library and Archive Head of Library and Archive Independence Square by A D Miller The End of Loneliness An exceptional political thriller, by Benedict Wells Independence Square is a story German contemporary literature at its of ordinary people caught up in best, I think. A melancholy read but so extraordinary times. It is a story about beautifully written. corruption and personal and political betrayals. It is a story about where, in Recommended by Astrid Jennewein, the 21st century, power really lies. HR Manager Recommended by CM A Gentleman in Moscow Piranesi by Susanna Clarke by Amor Towles Mysterious, entrancing and unique, this Set after the Bolshevik Revolution, it is a book which it is best to know as tells the story of a Russian aristocrat little as possible, before losing yourself living under house arrest in a luxury in its labyrinth. I loved it. hotel for 30 years. Despite every setback, the Count maintains his wit Recommended by Joanne Payne, and humanity in this wonderful novel Assistant Librarian full of humour and pathos. Recommended by Arturo Saville Mascioni (Rendalls, Shell) A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes An excellent and vivid portrayal of the Trojan War as seen from an entirely Flights by Olga Tokarczuk female perspective. A sweeping, lyrical novel, told with wit and vivacity. A significant story Recommended by HAH of travel and human connection in a polarised world. Recommended by KAF Burning the Books: A History of Knowledge Under Attack by Richard Ovenden All the King’s Men From the destruction of the Great by Robert Penn Warren Library of Alexandria to the Windrush Set in the 1930s, this book traces the papers, Burning the Books charts rise and fall of Willie Stark, who begins the extraordinary history of hostility his political career as an idealistic towards knowledge, and of those who man of the people but soon becomes have fought to preserve it. corrupted by success. A gritty tale of politics in the American South. Recommend by JPM Recommended by AGC The Best of A. A. Gill by A A Gill This is Happiness by Niall Williams What a sad loss his untimely death A wistful coming-of-age in a small was. Peerlessly observant and laugh- Irish parish, This is Happiness sings out-loud funny, this is one of those with tenderness and humanity. A gems that keeps you dipping in and deft chronicler of the Celtic state of out. A brilliant journalist who was often mind, Williams has produced another pigeonholed by many as just a food lyrical treatise on identity, community and TV critic, but this collection shows and belonging. he was so much more. Recommended by JMA Recommended by Ralph Arundell, Director of Operations Whoops! by John Lanchester ‘Normally a writer of amusing novels, The Constant Rabbit this time he addresses the financial by Jasper Fforde collapse of 2008. In a way that The Another characteristically eccentric Big Short exposed subprime lending concept breaks free from the wildly on film so this does in prose, amusing inventive mind of Jasper Fforde and disturbing in equal measure, but it as a bizarre tale of human-rabbit makes complex finance and economics coexistence masks a clever allegory accessible to the uninitiated. about belonging and identity. Recommended by Ralph Arundel, Recommended by Joanne Payne, Director of Operations Assistant Librarian People of Abandoned Character Festive Spirits by Kate Atkinson by Clare Whitfield Three short, but exquisitely formed, An absorbing page turner that tells tales with a yuletide theme from the the story of a disaffected wife who pen of the mercurial Kate Atkinson, thinks that her husband may be Jack Festive Spirits is a diverse and the Ripper.