le jeu en vaut la chandelle

Patrick Branwell Brontë, circa 1834
The Observer’s list of nonfiction books to read in 2026.

Similarly but more broadly, The Times on the 58 books to look out for in 2026.

Gwen John has a new retrospective in Cardiff.

In March, the National Portrait Gallery has a lunchtime talk on the Brontës.

The London Art Fair begins next week.

I have been thinking how unfair it is to complain about famous dead diarists having written gloomy and/or cutting things in their diaries. Where else should they have confided their spite, misanthropy and miseries? Writing these things in their solitary private diaries is surely the most conscionable way.