$50 for your first 3 months Get the print edition and steer from crisis to recovery
Susie Boyt writes a column on shopping for the FT Weekend supplement. She is a novelist and lives in London.
Add this topic to your myFT Digest for news straight to your inbox
We’ve been given a reprieve from the season’s excesses — so why does it all feel so wrong?
Claire Messud’s complex collection of essays look at authors and artists through her own family dynamics
Could the day be remastered with a bit of wit and flair?
The late Deborah Orr’s book evokes working-class origins in a patriarchal Scottish community
The season of goodwill plays to my strengths — but it asks a lot of its devotees
Is having a loved one jump out of a giant cake too much to ask?
Tiaras, tweed and cups of tea: a new book by the monarch’s personal stylist reveals the inner workings of the royal wardrobe
To be reminded that what we feel is natural and sane can make all the difference, writes Susie Boyt
A new biopic starring Renée Zellweger is set to put the singer’s wardrobe back in the spotlight
Loveable Yorkshire sleuth is drawn into a case worth fighting for
Jess Kidd’s detective heroine inhabits a Victorian London that is revealed in all its stench and glory
Family history and mythical lands pervade a rich, clever, rueful and sometimes maddening work
A surprisingly sober fictionalised recreation of the King’s early life with Gladys
A delightful memoir by the fashion photographer about his troublesome, flamboyant boyhood — and a later passion for hats
Two heartbroken people seek out a shared life in this ambitious, refined novel about attraction, disappointment, loss and care
Susie Boyt on why kindness in literature, from Austen to Bellow, should be cherished and treated with caution
A memoir of an upbringing in an intellectual elite full of clashes and strictures
A girl’s imagination adds colour to rural life in 1930s England in this evocative tale
Susie Boyt unfolds the immaculate allure of the linen cupboard
A daring collection of short stories with an aura of cool and featuring dislocated characters
A moving and involving story about a Las Vegas showgirl attempting to conquer past demons
The ‘no presents’ edict sadly de-skills me. It somehow makes me feel deprived
Susie Boyt, herself a devotee of extreme entertaining, shares her tips: from lavish food to fragrant flowers and the vital importance of “a bit of theatre”
When the winter seems endless, could a seasonal dress put a spring in your step?
Two sisters in flight from a troubled home find solace in the Scottish wilderness
International Edition