Author Archives: beatriceco

From Manya Wilkinson to David Szalay: new books reviewed in short

Operation Bowler: The Audacious Allied Bombing of Venice by Jonathan Glancey

The Second World War was no respecter of historical significance. The ancient cities of Coventry, Dresden, Caen, Rotterdam and Lübek were among those pulverised by enemy bombing. One exception, however, was Venice, a place so culturally precious that it had an aura of its own. Nevertheless, in spring 1945, as the Allies pushed northwards through Italy, Venice was in real peril: a storied past had not saved the monastery of Monte Cassino a year earlier.

In Operation Bowler, Jonathan Glancey, a historian and biographer of machines (the Spitfire, Concorde), unpicks the meticulous planning of Wing Commander George Westlake to ensure that Venice’s German-held harbour could be immobilised in a bombing raid but the city itself left unharmed. A large part of the book is given over to the unfolding Italian campaign as the Allies inched closer to Veneto before launching into the attack itself. On 21 March, 64 fighters and dive bombers massed over Ravenna and began the raid as Venetians on balconies watched and shouted “Bravo!”: only one aircraft was lost. It is a remarkable story, told with detail and panache. As Westlake noted in his log: “Whole show successful.”By Michael ProdgerOneworld, 336pp, £22. Buy the book

Flesh by David Szalay

David Szalay’s sixth novel follows the Booker-nominated All That Man Is, a “piercing portrayal of 21st-century manhood”. Flesh began with the author’s interest in being “as honest as possible about what it’s actually like to be a male body in the world”. We meet this body, István, as an isolated, fatherless 15-year-old drawn into a sexual relationship with an adult neighbour in a nameless Hungarian town. His emotional and experiential parameters are thus defined: tumultuous yet empty decades race by in pared-back narration and monosyllabic dialogue, “no” mostly leads to “OK” and an all-encompassing sense of control-lessness, of total alienation, pervades. Szalay conveys this atmosphere effortlessly.

An exploitative society fosters uncommunicative, unmoored men by rewarding these qualities, corrupting through the projection of its own self-serving impulses. An understanding of a man’s nature as beholden to demands beyond his willpower makes sense in this context. But something in me is deeply suspicious of accepting a man’s inherent unaccountability. Is it my prejudiced view as a woman?By Sydney DiackJonathan Cape, 368pp, £18. Buy the book

Lesbians: Where Are We Now? By Julie Bindel

Since being “outed” in 1977 at the age of 15, Julie Bindel has fought to improve the lives of women. In this personal, passionate memoir-cum-cultural commentary, she describes navigating her way through taunts of “dirty lezzer” and sexual and physical assaults, to taking pride in her sexuality. Help came from “lesbian heroes” and a “wonderful society of fabulous women”.

Today, she argues, a “new version of lesbian hatred” is here, and this time old prejudices are “dressed in progressive clothing”: gender identity trumping biological sex, she believes, poses a great threat to lesbianism. Stonewall (Europe’s largest LGBTQ+ rights charity) receives the most savage criticism in Lesbians. Bindel cites a controversy in which a leaked email from the organisation’s then CEO in 2021 suggested the debate around lesbians not wanting to sleep with trans women was “analogous to issues like sexual racism”; Bindel equates this line of thinking to “pressure to have sex with men”. Where gender identity services are concerned, I have come across testimonies in my own research of same-sex attracted girls who have come to believe they’d be better off being trans men instead of lesbians. Progressives should take note.By Hannah BarnesForum, 208pp, £20. Buy the book

Lublin by Manya Wilkinson

In this well-paced and humorous story, three Jewish boys set off on a 100km journey from Mezritsh, near the Poland-Belarus border, to the city of Lublin, hoping to sell the “Uncle’s” brushes: the success and money-driven Elya, vulgar Ziv who promotes workers’ rights and extraordinarily pious Kiva with a big secret. Beneath the jokes lie the socio-political issues Jews faced in Russian-occupied Poland in 1907. 

Following an increasingly suspicious map, the boys are taken through sun-scorched fields and forests where they are tempted by a demoness, a Russian village that they were advised to avoid and a not-so-joyful Jewish wedding. Throughout their journey, Lublin almost becomes a symbol of hope, with each expecting to find in it something they desire, be it riches or a glue-on beard. Manya Wilkinson dips into both the present and future, blending adventure with historical fiction to create a sharp, unique tale. You never know what might befall the boys next – or what terrible new joke Elya will come up with – and are left to wonder if they will ever reach Lublin.By Zuzanna LachendroAnd Other Stories, 160pp, £14.99. Buy the book

[See also: From Russell Shorto to Xiaolu Guo: new books reviewed in short]

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Book reviews , Magazine , Reviewed in short

This article appears in the 02 Apr 2025 issue of the New Statesman, What is school for?