NON FICTION

FRANCIS BACON: REVELATIONS by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan

(HarperCollins, January) the volatile Irish-born english painter Francis Bacon (1909-1992) was thrown out of the family home in his early 20s for wearing his mother’s underwear. ‘the divine demon of British art’, as he became known, was as obsessed with chronicling the ‘brutality’ of human flesh. his is work tackled war, faith and d his discomfort with his homosexuality. Drawing on extensive new w material, Stevens and d Swan argue thatt Bacon’s talent is more varied than has been acknowledged and that ‘the 20th century does not know itself without him’.

KEATS by Lucasta Miller

(Vintage, February) A Lower-middleclass outsider from ma a dysfunctional family, mily, John Keats was only ly 25 when he died of tB. But his vital, sensuous poems oems — including ode to A Nightingale and endymion — have ve been cherished now for 200 years.

In this lively book, literary critic lucasta miller reveals what Keats’s best-known verses tell us about the shocking death of his father, his apprenticeship to an apothecary-surgeon and his secret engagement to neighbour Fanny Brawne, to whom he wrote: ‘You have absorb’ me. I have a sensation at the present moment as though I was dissolving … I cannot breathe without you.’

ONE OF THE FAMILY: WHY A DOG CALLED MAXWELL CHANGED MY LIFE by Nicky Campbell (Hodder, February)

‘IN NEARLY four decades on the radio I have wept perhaps a dozen times on the air, half of those since march 2020,’ says Nicky Campbell.

taking call after call from people whose lives were falling apart during the Covid epidemic, the radio 5 presenter realised how much he relied on his 12-year-old labrador, maxwell, to keep him grounded.

In this heartwarming tribute to man’s best friend, Campbell explores how maxwell has also helped him come to terms with his early adoption. he talks to biologists and psychologists and concludes that: ‘All dogs are therapy dogs.’

HENRY ‘CHIPS’ CHANNON: THE DIARIES OF CHIPS CHANNON VOL 1

(Cornerstone, March) ‘What is more dull than a discreet diary? one might as well have a discreet soul,’ said ‘Chips’ Channon. Born in Chicago in 1897, he married into the wealthy Guinness family before becoming MP for Southend-on-Sea from 1935 to 1958.

his career was unremarkable, but his gossipy record of the decadent parties of the interwar period are anything but.

he gives the inside story on Proust, Cocteau, edward VIII and mrs Simpson and raises an eyebrow at the grand balls thrown by the Nazi elite. editor Simon heffer promises us ‘reputations will be damaged’.

ELIZABETH AND MARGARET: THE INTIMATE WORLD OF THE WINDSOR SISTERS by Andrew Morton

(Michael O’Mara, March) Close friends growing up, sisters ‘margot’ and ‘lillibet’ nevertheless engaged in childhood scuffles, with the future Queen packing a mean l eft hook and the future ‘ Party Princess’ preferring to bite.

Dutiful elizabeth and rude/witty margaret remained close into adulthood, but many —