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Books for mum to unwrap
Nicky Pellegrino picks the best reads to give (and receive) this Mother’s Day.

Matt Haig: 'It was touch and go, but I didn't jump'
Best-selling author Matt Haig, 38, is about to have two more books published. Here, he explains how he only started writing to cope with his sudden, life-threatening depression.

Playing the numbers
What’s your lucky number? Alex Bellos conducted an online survey and discovered a hot favourite: people find the number 7 clever, cheery and divine.

Shonagh Koea: Her dark materials
Author Shonagh Koea tells Rebecca Barry Hill why she doesn’t stick to the rules.

Book review: Heartland
"Donny Mac was released at Easter time, about a month before Pansy Holloway, also known as Nightshade, disappeared for good."

Irvine Welsh: Food for thought
Scottish writer Irvine Welsh, now based in Miami, is fascinated by Americans’ eating habits, he tells Stephen Jewell.

JK Rowling cut by barbs
One of the most successful authors in British history, with legions of fans and millions of pounds to her name is not immune to pressure.

Kiwi who terror king didn't see coming
The moment that Mary Quin thought she would die was in a gunfight with an AK-47 jammed into her spine.

Bob Jones: Criticism over Mein Kampf a load of nonsense
Condemnation of Kim Dotcom's possession of a signed copy of Mein Kampf has been ridiculous, writes Sir Bob Jones.

Writer's Festival: To-do list
Books editor Linda Herrick lets you in on her picks of this year's Writer's Festival lineup.

Alexander McCall Smith: The bright side of life
Scottish writer Alexander McCall Smith spent a year in Belfast in the middle of the Troubles. Amid the bombs and blasts, he discovered a great love, he tells Linda Herrick.

Two of a kind
British authors Nicci Gerrard and Sean French tell Stephen Jewell why their book collaboration works so well.

Book review: No Regrets, Coyote
I do not read a lot of noir crime fiction which, on the face of it, means I should not be writing this review — well, on the face the book presents after a few dozen pages, anyway.

Camilla Lackberg: Crime is on her side
Stephen Jewell talks to ‘Swedish Agatha Christie’ Camilla Lackberg about her close friendship with her characters, fact being darker than fiction and the myths surrounding her country.

Book review: The Bright Side of My Condition
The charming title of this book is a quotation from The Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe.

Book review: Northanger Abbey
Val McDermid's Northanger Abbey is the second stage of The Austen Project, for which four writers have been invited to produce a contemporary version of a Jane Austen novel.

Brash's Brethren meetings - no regrets
Don Brash devotes all of three paragraphs to the Exclusive Brethren in his 330-page autobiography despite his dealings with the Church.

Book review: <I>The World's Great Wonders</I>
No continent is left out in this roll call of diverse and wonderful sites.

Book review: Arctic Summer
On December 19, 1910, a few months after the publication of Howard's End, E. M. Forster began sketching out the plan for a new novel.

Women's Bookshop: Just loving what they do
When Carole Beu opened the Women’s Bookshop 25 years ago, she didn’t realise she would be creating something much bigger than a retail space, writes Linda Herrick.

Kirsty Wark: From fact to fiction
BBC journalist Kirsty Wark tells Stephen Jewell about her debut novel, and how it feels being the subject of the critics for a change.