8 brilliant books for Christmas
These are the best festive reads recommended by your favourite TV and radio broadcasters
Jenni Murray - The voice of Radio 4's Woman's Hour
The book I want for Christmas
The Sellout by Paul Beatty, £12.10 (incl p&p)
The Man Booker Prize winner was described in one review as “the most lacerating American satire in years”. But it is also apparently a really funny novel and I could do with a laugh!
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The books I’ll be giving
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry (£13.50, incl p&p)
This is a beautifully written historical novel set in the fictional Essex village of Aldwinter in the late 19th century. It’s a tender love story, and tackles themes that are as relevant now as then: poor housing, domestic violence, the gulf between social classes. The historical detail is phenomenal – it’s simply wonderful.
Girls and Sex by Peggy Orenstein (£8.80, plus £1.50 p&p)
This is a must-read for any parent of daughters. Orenstein is an American journalist who interviewed 70 young women aged between 15 and 20, and it’s distressing in its descriptions of how damaged they are by their ignorance of their right to sexual pleasure.
Order Jenni Murray’s A History of Britain in 21 Women for £14.85, incl p&p
