BARBARA BOSWELL remembers South African poet, storyteller, publisher, editor and activist Diana Ferrus (1953-2026)
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A fundamentally moral novel
The book presents a kind of alternative history to the great class struggles of the 20th century, writes CRAIG CAMPBELL
EDIFYING LAUGHTER: Striking coal miner Ted Pickles from Denby Grange Colliery, near Wakefield, busy entertaining miners children part time as Mr Pickles for 20 years
HELEN VASSALLO recommends a gripping Argentinian crime story about gender violence and the weaponisation of religion
New releases from Steve Swallow, Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts, and Ady Johnson
When the ravages of Alzheimer’s leave an elderly woman marooned in painful memories of October 1950, her grandchild comes up with a creative strategy.
New releases from Simone White, Brass Funkeys, and Souad Massi
SUE TURNER is compelled by a history that shows how far a country can turn in on itself to collude with abuses of power
RON JACOBS is persuaded by the parallel drawn between Charles Manson and Donald Trump
Our Struggle
by Wayne Holloway
Influx Press, £9.99
A SPIRIT of conscience rather than consciousness haunts Wayne Holloway’s new novel, Our Struggle, a defiant and erudite love letter to closed fists and the grand chaos of anarchy.
The book begins with a posse of clowns berating members of the EDL. This is modern-day Britain where pantomine and social media are the new tools against fascism, but where are the firebrands?
That’s the call and tell of this fascinating book, although painfully the answer may be in the end that those whip hand characters have been reduced to little more than historical ghosts.
Similar stories
MARY CONWAY is spellbound by superb performances in Arthur Miller’s study of the social and personal stress brought about by Nazi Germany’s Kristallnacht
PETER MASON applauds a stage version of Le Carre’s novel that questions what ordinary people have to gain from high-level governmental spying
HENRY BELL welcomes a fine demonstration of the need to love the words themselves in the communication of political messages
STEVE ANDREW enjoys an account of the many communities that flourished independently of and in resistance to the empires of old