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Unbound reprints 70,000 copies of TikTok hit Cain’s Jawbone

Authored by the Observer’s first cryptic crossword setter, Cain’s Jawbone was first published by Gollancz in 1934, under the pen name Torquemada. It was written with the 100 pages deliberately out of order, inviting readers to solve the murder mystery by re-ordering them. Only three people are thought to have solved the puzzle, including British comedy writer John Finnemore, who received £1,000 from the press after it reissued the book in 2019 and launched a competition. Read more

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Marjoleine Kars wins 2021 Cundill History Prize

Marjoleine Kars has been named winner of the 2021 Cundill History Prize for Blood on the River: a Chronicle of Mutiny and Freedom on the Wild Coast (The New Press). Kars accessed a previously untapped Dutch archive to reveal the little-known story of a 1763 slave rebellion in Berbice, a Dutch colony in present-day Guyana. Drawing on nearly 900 interrogation transcripts – extremely rare verbatim accounts from suspected rebels, bystanders, and witnesses – she is able to provide a unique day-by-day account of the revolt, in the words of both colonists and, crucially, the slaves themselves. Read more

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Top 10 novels about novelists

Writers writing about writers: the fact that there’s a lot of it about should perhaps come as no surprise. From the likes of Jack Torrance in The Shining to Paul Morris in Sabine Durrant’s Lie With Me, writers in fiction are often skewered: preening, blocked, dejected creatures who’ll receive their comeuppance – or salvation – one way or another. Read more

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In ‘Something More Than Night,’ Raymond Chandler and Boris Karloff are a winning crime-fighting duo

For more than 30 years, Britain’s Kim Newman has been producing thoroughly entertaining, startlingly original fiction. He has remained something of a cult figure on both sides of the Atlantic, but that situation could — and should — change with the publication of his immersive new horror thriller, “Something More Than Night.” Read more

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The home of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley is on sale for £1million

Michael Keating, Director of Dexters Bloomsbury says of the property: This bright first floor flat offers buyers the opportunity to purchase a piece of history in one of London’s most historic neighbourhoods. Close to Russell Square tube station and King’s Cross, Marchmont Street has a wide array of pubs, cafes and second-hand bookstores. Read more

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