The non-fiction paperbacks you need to have on your shelf: November 1942 by Peter
November 1942 by Peter Englund (Vintage £12.99, 496pp)
People living in a world at war could not know that November 1942 marked the turning point of the conflict.
This was the month when Winston Churchill proclaimed that the war had reached ‘the end of the beginning’.
Historian Peter Englund presents a vivid portrait of that critical month, compiling first-hand testimony from a remarkable range of people.
Some are well known, such as the Australian surgeon and PoW, Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop, or the cast of the wartime movie Casablanca. Others are ordinary folk caught up in the tide of history.
Their stories offer a brilliant snapshot of the reality of war: miserable, boring and brutal – but illuminated with moments of humanity, heroism and glorious absurdity.
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World by Bettany Hughes (W&N £12.99, 416pp)
The Seven Wonders of The Ancient World is available now from the Mail Bookshop
The original Seven Wonders of the World were a classical must-see list, complied some 2,200 years ago in a document known as the Laterculi Alexandrini – a ‘boastful guide book’ to the known world as it was at the time of Alexander the Great.
The Wonders included the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Pharos lighthouse at Alexandria.
Starting with the Great Pyramid at Giza – the oldest of the Wonders, and the only one to survive almost intact – Hughes makes a fascinating tour, combining classical sources with modern archaeology to tell the stories of these astonishing monuments (and, in the case of the Hanging Gardens, whether they really existed).
Richly detailed and full of fascinating insights, her book is a wonder in its own right.
Being with Cows by Dave Mountjoy (Bedford Square £10.99, 272pp)
Cows have had rather a bad press recently, with reports of them attacking walkers.
But Dave Mountjoy’s memoir reveals a gentler side.
Mountjoy grew up in Worcestershire, where his mother’s family raised cattle.
He and his Spanish wife, Diana, settled in the French Pyrenees, where they acquired three Galloway heifers and fell in love with their calm benevolence.
Soon the Galloways were joined by three Castas, a rare French breed, famous for their stubborness.
When Mountjoy’s younger brother took his own life, he found solace in the company of the cows, whose placid acceptance of life in the moment he calls ‘cowfulness’.
He now runs Being With Cows retreats, and his book celebrates the peace and stillness that stressed humans can learn from spending time with these creatures.