Welcome to our weekly Books Digest where we round-up what you should, and shouldn’t, be reading. This week features Julia Stonehouse, Brian Clegg and Phoebe Luckhurst.
For more books take a look through our Books Digest Archive.
John Stonehouse, My Father: The True Story of the Runaway MP by Julia Stonehouse (Icon Books), £16.99.
Bill Bowkett
Julia Stonehouse believes that her late father John Stonehouse – the former Labour MP who in 1974 unsuccessfully faked his death to start a new life in Australia as “Joseph Markham” – was the victim of “psychological suicide” by those who carelessly spread “misconceptions” about him.
John Stonehouse, My Father: The True Story of the Runaway MP is an attempt at a redemptive account of the politician’s troubled life; one that aims to “dispute allegations… still in circulation”. The most damning of which is the claim that he was a spy for the Czechoslovakian special service. In the official history of MI5 Christopher Andrew presented evidence that demonstrated Stonehouse was a spy.
Throughout the book, his daughter repeatedly suggests that everyone except her dad was to blame for his “manic behaviour” – from the Labour party to the doctors who prescribed him medication and (apparently most accountable of all) the media. In the chapter “Fake News”, Julia delivers a tirade against the journalists who “gave people license to punish him”. She writes, in a plea to contemporary reporters: “Beware the temptation to be lazy and skip original document research, or twist words into untruths.”
The MP’s alleged mistreatment resulted in “mad, out-of-character” moments, such as when John assaulted his wife, Barbara. But away from the gloom, there are some lighter human memories too, like the time he makes young Beatrice Kasozi, who was running away from the brother of Ugandan president Idi Amin, a member of their family.
No book before this has delved into this fascinating political scandal in so much detail and with empathy. But in highlighting the complex interplay that led to John Stonehouse’s disappearance, Julia leaves the reader feeling spent and somewhat confused. Stonehouse was convicted in 1976 of fraud and sentenced to seven years in prison. He died in 1988.
Ten Days in Physics That Shook the World: How Physicists Transformed Everyday Life by Brian Clegg (Icon Books), £12.99.
Lily Pagano
Connecting the world of scientific research with that of the every day is a difficult task but Brian Clegg’s Ten Days in Physics that Shook the World manages to strike a delicate balance between the two.
Marking each of the ten days with its own scientific figurehead, Clegg takes us through the defining eras of science. Presented in digestible and compact chapters, we are able to weave between each era as we please. We visit Newton as he establishes his three laws of motion, jump forwards to the 19th century to observe Curie making history as the first female recipient of the Nobel Prize, and peer at the possibilities ahead for a future day eleven.
Those in search of a well-written account of the world of science should look no further. Whether it’s radioactivity or relativity, superconductivity or supercomputers, Clegg’s Ten Days covers it. Those with prior scientific knowledge stand to learn more about the historical and social context of the discoveries that lead their studies, while those taking their first steps into science can do so steadily – avoiding a bombardment of mathematical formulae. Ten Days in Physics That Shook the World succeeds where much of science writing fails, by creating a clear path between pivotal moments in scientific history and the world as we know it today.
The Lock In by Phoebe Luckhurst (Penguin), £12.99.
Alice Crossley
Summer months call for easy reads and Phoebe Luckhurst’s The LockIn is just that – a breezy, funny and surprisingly gripping debut that would make for the perfect poolside read. Luckhurst, Features Editor at the Evening Standard, draws on years of living in London rental properties with cruel and demanding landlords to write this comic novel. The plot follows three twenty-something housemates (and one Hinge date), who become trapped in the attic of their house in South East London with one phone and little signal or battery.
Written during lockdown, the novel’s trapped-in-the-attic plotline feels like an allegory for the common millennial experience of quarantining in a house share. Luckhurst’s characters feel relatable and familiar too, working for quirky start-ups whilst chasing the London lifestyle and navigating the stressors of the city in their mid-twenties. The book serves as a good example of the benefits of writing what you know.
The Lock In feels reminiscent of the writing of Dolly Alderton and Beth O’Leary and will likely find a similar audience. It is a fun and lighthearted read that indicates a promising career as an author, as well as journalist, ahead of Luckhurst. Read this book in bed or on the beach and expect to finish it in a couple of sittings.
