Half way through the Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher, a very long book. It’s a good read but not sure I like it. I don’t like any of the characters, and there are no animals in it. It’s about 2 Sheffield UK families, in the 70s and 80s. Reads like literate coronation street. I doubt I will seek out another book by this author.

On the final pages of Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard, which is a good book. His plots are interesting, his characters likable. It moves between Antwerp in 1939 and London in 1976. A Jewish diamond trader fled Nazi Europe, leaving his priceless collection of Picasso paintings and diamonds with a friend who takes them to London. The boat he fled on sank, leaving no survivors. Where is the proof of forgery and why was Eldritch Swan in prison for 36 years?