For My Husband
Padella: Next Level Pasta for Everybody by Tim Siadatan
With its rich photography and jaunty style, this book – from the creators of the Padella pasta restaurants in London – offers over 100 mouthwatering ways to make great pasta at home. One to add to his growing library of perfect cookbooks.
For My Godchildren
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Every year, I give my godchildren a title from Penguin’s lovely range of Clothbound Classics. The idea is that when they are grown up, they will have a library of great books to read (or at the very least to decorate their homes with). This year, the lucky brood will receive Wuthering Heights, in time to read it before Emerald Fennell’s film version comes out on Valentine’s Day.
For Arty Youths
Art School (In a Book) by Russell Tovey and Robert Diament
This upbeat and accessible guide to contemporary art explores the work, inspiration and practices of key artists from the 20th and 21st centuries. Even better, it shows the reader how to develop their own creative vision and offers practical tips on seeing the world artistically.
For Garden Enthusiasts
Diary of a Keen Keen Gardener by Mary Keen
This is the first autobiographical book by Mary Keen, a grande dame of British gardening who sat on the board of the National Trust’s garden panel for decades and has designed gardens for all the luminaries of our time. Country Life says it is ‘always entertaining and brimming with enthusiasm… wisdom percolates through the book’.
For My Best Friend
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
Shortlisted for last year’s Booker Prize, The Safekeep follows the interplay of post-war guilt and an intense romance in the confines of a Dutch country house. Themes of identity, desire and the weight of history are woven into a tense and atmospheric story of power, home and reckoning that is unputdownable.
For My Father-In-Law
The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller
Sitting pretty on the shortlist for this year’s Booker Prize is this addictive but gentle novel by Andrew Miller. Set in Somerset during the Big Freeze of 1962, two couples unravel beneath the homely and respectable facade of their quiet country lives. Every word is a winner, and we hope The Land in Winter takes the Booker crown.
For My Mother-In-Law
Do Admit by Mimi Pond
Jumping on the bandwagon of our ongoing obsession with the Mitfords, this gorgeously illustrated graphic biography looks at the glamorous, scandal-ridden lives of this extraordinary family. High society, literary life, fascism – it’s all there with razor sharp insight.
