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Sir David Bell, vice-chancellor, University of Reading, is reading Andrew O¡¯Hagan¡¯s The Illuminations (Faber, 2015). ¡°O¡¯Hagan has to be one of Britain¡¯s most underrated novelists. His books unmask human frailties in sensitive and insightful ways. That is certainly the case in this novel, which weaves together a grandmother¡¯s failing memories of a doomed 1960s love affair with her grandson¡¯s searing experience of combat in Afghanistan. Brilliant writing combined with heartfelt emotion.¡±

Emily Brand, managing editor at Bodleian Library Publishing, is reading Charlotte Gordon¡¯s Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley (Hutchinson, 2015). ¡°From heartbreak in revolutionary France to literary sparks at Lake Geneva, this compelling double biography does justice to both the passions and the pioneering minds of two of history¡¯s most brilliant women. A mother and daughter who never met, but who both left a remarkable legacy in the worlds of literature and women¡¯s studies, their entangled lives are here presented in elegant and accessible prose.¡±

Carina Buckley, instructional design manager, Southampton Solent University, is reading Simone de Beauvoir¡¯s The Blood of Others (Penguin, 1986). ¡°Blomart, middle-class bourgeois turned Resistance fighter, waits through the night in occupied Paris for his beloved H¨¦l¨¨ne to die, turning over his past, their relationship, and the part he has played in other people¡¯s lives. Switching fluidly between first and third person, de Beauvoir examines how impossible it is to be truly free, and how that can be good.¡±

R. C. Richardson, emeritus professor of history, University of Winchester, is reading David Olusoga¡¯s The World¡¯s War (Head of Zeus, 2014). ¡°A vivid account of how the imperial powers fighting the 1914?18 war drew greedily on men from their colonies ¨C and from China and America, too ¨C for their military campaigns in Europe and in Africa. No less vividly presented is the associated damning record of racism and deliberate amnesia, witnessed for example in the case of a black American war hero who, on his return to the US, was stripped of his military uniform and died a pauper.¡±

Sharon Wheeler, visiting lecturer in journalism, Birmingham City University, is reading Tim Lane and Elliot Cartledge¡¯s Chasing Shadows: The Life and Death of Peter Roebuck (Hardie Grant Books, 2015). ¡°Peter Roebuck was a very unconventional cricketer ¨C but one of the best-ever writers and commentators on the game. He was found dead in highly unusual circumstances amid equally highly controversial allegations of sexual abuse. The authors have spoken to a range of friends and family, but perhaps inevitably can¡¯t provide closure for this desperately sad story about a complex man.¡±