Horatio is an outstanding writer of literary non-fiction. He’s written before about life on a container ship and on an icebreaker, three memoirs, two important books on acute mental crisis, a glorious book on Bach, a book on curlews and swallows, three delightful books for young children and a couple more on Welsh myths — all in addition to regular journalism.
With the small boats crisis as its focus, We Came By Sea is an exemplary work of reportage, motivated by curiosity and a suspicion of prevailing narratives.
This short book began ‘with a feeling of deep disquiet’ brought on by reading the reports (suspiciously consistent in tone and agenda) of people coming to Britain’s south coast in small boats from France since 2020. Sceptical of the single narrative and cautious of the political winds of recent years, Clare visited Dover, Calais, Cornwall and Merseyside, where some refugees were housed as they waited for their applications to be processed. He also talks to people involved with the crisis in every kind of capacity. Observant and careful, he writes what he sees; exposes hypocrisy, corruption, lies, political cynicism and undue profit at the taxpayer’s expense – while celebrating the extraordinary courage and tenacity of the search and rescue teams and charities involved.
Interviewed by Johnny de Falbe
Edited by Magnus Rena
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32:29
Tim Bouverie: Allies at War
Bouverie's first book, Appeasing Hitler, was a tremendous success. His second — a history of the alliance that won the war — is once again fascinating and beautifully written. He spoke to Johnny about the destruction of the French fleet by the British (they had been allies months earlier), the betrayal of Poland, and the significance of public opinion for democracies at war; offensives that would stir a sense of patriotism back home were as important as those which were strategically necessary.
Interviewed by John de Falbe
Edited by Magnus Rena
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50:50
Chloe Dalton: Raising Hare
Dalton, who has worked for over a decade as a parliamentary and Foreign Office policy advisor and speech-writer, found herself raising a leveret in lockdown. Her approach was to intervene as little as possible and allow the animal to remain wild – yet it still comes to snooze in her house, and has now raised leverets that treat Dalton’s small converted barn as their own. She spoke to Arabella about this improbable experience, about swapping the city for the country, and writing her first book – which has just been shortlisted for the Hatchards First Biography Prize.
Interviewed by Arabella Friesen
Edited by Magnus Rena
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54:12
Lucy Hughes-Hallett: The Scapegoat
The scapegoat in question is the Duke of Buckingham: favourite and lover of James I and beloved friend of his son; husband, father, art collector, tireless statesman… The cost of his pearl-spilling outfit when he went to meet Henrietta Maria would have paid the mercenary army for four months. He was hated so fiercely by the time of his stabbing in a Portsmouth inn that his murderer was cheered en route to London. This biography of the fabulously handsome skimbleshanks is a scintillating portrait of a complex man and his tumultuous times.
Interviewed by Johnny de Falbe
Edited by Magnus Rena
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58:43
Mother State: Helen Charman in Conversation with Kate Briggs
'motherhood is frequently politicised, but rarely acknowledged in all its fullness to be political'
We were delighted that Helen Charman, a Fellow at Clare College, Cambridge, whose writing has been published in The Guardian, The White Review, Another Gaze and The Stinging Fly, came to the shop to speak about her new book, Mother State. The impetus behind the book — a history of motherhood in the UK and Ireland — is that motherhood is an inherently political state of being, and should be considered in terms of collective responsibilities as well as individual. The communities that she is interested in — anti-nuclear campaigners, lesbian squatters, the wives of striking miners... — present a world in which mothering is a powerful, radical act.
She was joined in conversation by Kate Briggs (The Long Form and This Little Art, both published by Fitzcarraldo).
To hear about upcoming events in the shop and new episodes on our podcast, please click here.
Edited by Magnus Rena
Ireland