The Inheritance Of Loss: Kiran Desai

We're in Nepal, in a valley under Kanchenjunga; it's the 1980s, corruption is endemic, the young are agitating for a Gorkha homeland and- in their decaying bungalows above the town- a group of wealthy retirees- Indian and European- are keeping alive the tastes and traditions of the British Raj.  Anyone who can blag a visa escapes to Britain or the USA and sends home lies about how well they're doing there. Sai, the grandaughter of the judge, begins a puppyish romance with a half-hearted young revolutionary...

A funny, grim and largely unforgiving book. 

Nigella Lawson's Latest

Nigelissima it's called- and it's weird to be watching it just minutes after the latest report from the courtroom where Charles and Nigella's enviable lifestyle is being trashed. Nigella flirts and flounces over the food, smiling and being perfect and it's hard not to feel like a voyeur. "I like a little violence in the kitchen," she says as she prepares to break up a slab of hard toffee- and the line now carries connotations she can hardly have intended when she uttered it in the studio all those months ago. She sprinkles a chocolate log with icing sugar and witticisms about white powder are heard across the land.