THE PAST, THE PRESENT

Lately we’ve been thinking about the enduring power of ancient myths — how it truly could be said that all the best stories are the old stories. Technological and material progress may change the way our world looks, but the human experience of love and heartbreak, triumph and disappointment, joy and pain has not changed a jot. Circe, the new bestselling novel from Orange Prize-winner Madeline Miller — a “novel to be gobbled greedily in a single sitting” — spells this out powerfully.

Speaking of narrative inspirations, we’ve also featured the authors who invented Scandi crime — Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, inspiring a generation of writers from Stieg Larrson to Jo Nesbo. And for those more interested in looking forward than looking back, the latest offer in our Alexi ‘big ideas’ series is How to Resist: Turn Protest to Power by Matthew Bolton. As Marina Hyde, columnist for The Guardian, observed, “you might have heard that things don’t have to be this way — here’s the official guidebook to changing them.” ©Alexi 2017 www.alexibooks.com

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, July 15th, 2018