Punishing Putin: Inside the Global Economic War to Bring Down Russia by Stephanie Baker (Mudlark, £16.99)
This book is about an aspiration, not an accomplishment. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 sparked a new cold war in which the US and the EU deployed economic and technological weapons to try to make Russia a global financial pariah and to seize the assets of Vladimir Putin’s oligarch cronies to fund future reconstruction in Ukraine.
Stephanie Baker, a veteran Bloomberg News reporter, mines key contacts and deep knowledge to show how sanctions and economic statecraft have had only limited effect because of Europe’s dependence of Russian oil and gas and because of the oligarchs’ elaborate layers of offshore shell companies and investments in Cyprus and London. – Ray Burke
Single at Heart: The Power, Freedom and Joy of Single Life by Dr Bella DePaulo (Souvenir Press, £14.99)
A previously hidden layer of humanity is emerging: the happily single. Dr Bella DePaulo, a US social scientist, has gathered the results of 30 years of academic study into a meticulously researched and thought-provoking book about the positive life experiences of people who are “single at heart”.
According to DePaulo, these likely comprise at least 20 per cent of humanity. They include people who are sexual, asexual, romantic, aromantic, into polyamory, miserably married, parents, and even in committed long-term relationships with other freedom-desiring single-at-hearts. While our dominant narrative is still that it’s “natural, normal and superior” for adults to be coupled, ever more people are choosing not to orbit a “Magical Mythical Romantic Partner”, but instead savour solitude, liberty and meaningful relationships with “The Ones”. – Adrienne Murphy
Wise Women by Sharon Blackie and Angharad Wynne: Elder female archetypes liberated from ancient European stories
Book reviews: Punishing Putin; Single at Heart; The Fate of Mary Rose
Mad, Isn’t It? by Emma Doran and Country Fail by Killian Sundermann: Two comedy books that offer genuine comic relief
Night & Day by John Connolly: An entertaining collection of short stories
The Fate of Mary Rose by Caroline Blackwood (Virago, £9.99)
The reprint of Anglo-Irish writer Caroline Blackwood’s The Fate of Mary Rose comes at a time when sensationalised true crime stories abound. First published in 1981, the enduring resonance of this book illustrates that prurience about victims of violence has existed for a long time, and perhaps will eternally incite curiosity in the general public – certainly a powerful, though bleak, idea.
The novel is narrated by Rowan Anderson, whose cold, clinical voice reflects his emotionally distant relationship with his wife, Cressida. During a visit to see his wife and their daughter, Mary-Rose, Rowan becomes increasingly disturbed by Cressida’s voyeuristic fixation on the explicit details of the murder case of a young girl that has rocked their small village. Blackwood writes with remarkable precision, crafting a compelling protagonist whose total disinterest in his family is perversely fascinating. Focusing on the villagers’ varied reactions to the violent crime, she creates a dark and humorous vision of a tight-knit community.
It is wonderful to see renewed recognition for Caroline Blackwood, whose Booker-nominated Great Granny Webster is also due to be reprinted by Virago in 2026. – Elizabeth MacBride
