Books

It’s been 12 years since George RR Martin published A Dance with Dragons, the latest book in his A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series. Since then, HBO’s Game of Thrones adaptation of the novels has been and gone; relying on the 74-year-old’s outline of his final two books …

Jeeves and Wooster books have been changed to lose ­“unacceptable” passages by author PG Wodehouse. It is the latest in a long line of literary alterations to some of the world’s best-loved works. The original wording in the popular comic novels has been purged or rewritten for new ­editions issued …

And tricky also to describe the story without revealing too much about her shocking back-story. Because Celia Creswell is a woman with a past and then some, someone whose history is veiled by necessary secrecy, someone scarred by events no one should have to endure at the tender age she …

British author Anne Perry died on April 10, aged 84, it was confirmed today by her agent. The writer – who was born Juliet Marion Hulme – was best known for her Pitt and Monk detective novel series, and had penned dozens of books since her debut novel, The Cater …

The Dunk and Egg novellas are set around 100 years before A Game of Thrones, so about a century after House of the Dragon. Dunk is the future Lord Commander of the Kingsguard known as Ser Duncan the Tall. And Egg is the future King Aegon V Targaryen, the grandfather …

Simon Barnes celebrates British nature (Image: ) I should have been walking with lions. I should have been sleeping in a hut surrounded by elephants. I should have been waking up to the sound of the alarm clock of the bush, the calls of ground hornbill. Instead, I heard the …

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is still in cinemas and is absolutely fantastic. Considering the roleplaying game (RPG) source material has such expansive worlds and ideas, it only seems natural for the movie to have a couple of spin-off novels. The Druid’s Call acts as a direct prequel to …

Monsignor O’Flaherty was warned of the dangers by the Germans and the Vatican (Image: Getty) Every evening, as the sun was setting over the skyline of Rome, Hugh O’Flaherty would stand on the steps of St Peter’s Basilica, in Vatican City, in full view of armed Nazi soldiers stationed across …

Ellie Robinson, photographed this week at Queen Mary University of London (Image: Steve Reigate) It was just after winning her Paralympic gold medal at Rio 2016 that swimmer Ellie Robinson developed a debilitating fear of failure. She was a torpedo talent aged 15 and just four years into taking up …

Rub of the green: Star Steve Davis in 1985 (Image: Getty) It is a game of subtlety and mystery – a slow-paced affair, in an increasingly fast-paced world. The critic Clive James dubbed it “chess with balls”. And he was quite right: snooker blends depth with the dynamism of the …