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Charlie Connelly

Willem de Kooning: The unintentional painter

To the Dutchman commercial art was just as fulfilling as something more purely creative – and it came with a wage

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The hardest truths: Clara Dupont-Monod and the weight of the past

In a new book by a best-selling French author, ancient onlookers watch a family come to terms with a disabled child

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Mikhail Bulgakov: The USSR's most deliberate provocateur

A barely concealed desire for the old Russian empire would infuse his work but even this did not preclude Stalin’s tacit admiration

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The lady vanishes: the mystery of H Ellen Browning

A great writer travelled to Hungary, wrote a single book, and then disappeared. All she left behind was a masterpiece

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Horst Buchholz: The man who made Germans cool again

He arrived in the US as the “James Dean of Germany” but that promise would never truly be fulfilled

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Seamus Heaney’s songs of the earth

How a Danish archaeologist’s book about ancient bodies found buried in peat bogs inspired some of the poet’s greatest work

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Stefan Zweig: The perpetual exile longing for the Viennese life he once knew

Many exiled European writers embraced their situation, but for Zweig the loss of his nation represented the loss of his identity

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Esther Rutter: Her hopes rose in Grasmere

How a young woman finally unlocked the life ahead of her by spending a year at Wordsworth’s cottage in the Lake District

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Kralle Krawinkel: The guitarist who put the Dada into Da Da Da

As good a musician as Keith Richards, the German was never entirely comfortable in the limelight

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A family on the edge of the world

No other writer has captured the singular beauty of the northern French coast like Rebecca Gisler in her debut novel

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Anna Anderson: The woman who claimed to be the daughter of the last Tsar

Once the toast of New York society, the mystery of why she did what she did remains

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I’m a celeb.. get me a book deal

Serge Gainsbourg’s novel was unquestionably a stinker, but a surprising number of novels by famous people stand up to scrutiny

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Fred Buscaglione: The Turin boy who was the face of post-war Italy

The singer almost came to embody the nation’s revival before it all ended at the dawn of a decade that could have been made for him

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The page against the machine

A Russian author is declared a ‘terrorist’ for opposing Putin. American writers are banned in right-wing states. Where will this end?

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Edward G Robinson: The Romanian all-American personification of prohibition

The role of Rico in Little Caesar proved as career-defining for Robinson as Frankenstein’s monster was for Boris Karloff or Dracula for Bela Lugosi

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Pierre Boulle, from sabotage to screen

French Resistance spy Boulle took up writing almost on a whim – then created the basis for two all-time classic films

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Nora Kovach: The dancer who defected

More famous dancers would follow her lead but Nora Kovach was the first, the pioneer, arguably the bravest of them all

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Magic in the margins: what links Marlene Dietrich with Coleridge and Kerouac?

All were fans of writing their own thoughts on the pages of the books they read

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Uta Hagen: The best - and most demanding - acting coach in the business

While she became one of the most highly respected names in the history of US theatre, Hagen brought a European sensibility to Broadway

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The hippo who went shopping: a vivid portrayal of the refugee experience

A real-life zoo breakout is the first in a series of tumultuous events to befall the refugee hero of Leo Vardiashvili’s impressive debut novel

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Mistinguett: The song-and-dance showgirl who owned the Paris stage

So emblematic of the city’s spirit did she become that Mistinguett seemed timeless even in her own lifetime

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Welcome to this year’s must-reads

2024 should go down as a vintage year for female authors

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Baba Yaga: The fairytale scourge of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus

Attempting to steal children’s Christmas gifts from a kindly old man is only one item on the charge sheet of the cannibalistic witch

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A year of magnificent exceptions in the world of books

The perfect combination of compelling narrative and wonderful writing is rare but when it works the results are unforgettable

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Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha: The reformer who never quite understood the nation

His zeal doused by public apathy and establishment ambivalence, Albert became gradually overwhelmed by disillusionment

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One ring and the right wing: Giorgia Meloni's love of Tolkien

What draws Italy’s populist leader, along with a number of other far-right politicians, to the work of JRR Tolkien?

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Luigi Pirandello: The relentless seeker for answers to the riddle of existence

The relentlessly prolific author of plays, poems, short stories and novels, Pirandello was always looking ahead

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Writing in the present tense: books for under the Christmas tree

Tales of ice and lighthouses, the ghosts of Irish literary legends and the Iliad reborn: the books you should give this Christmas

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Stéphane Grappelli: The violinist who changed the face of jazz in Europe

There was no other with his extraordinary improvising in the medium

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The clot thickens: Nadine Dorries' caffeine-fuelled torrent of words

The former Tory culture secretary and Boris Johnson superfan has written an astoundingly bad book

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Shakespeare conquered the world elsewhere

The first recorded purchase of Shakespeare’s collected works came 400 years ago – and the compendium soon crossed into Europe

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Louis Malle: The French director who was a cinematic maverick

Malle’s unique approach to cinema meant he was always on the hunt for ways to freshen things up, no matter the risk

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