SwayBlog

FictionReviewA mother battles alcohol dependency in this moving, drily funny Irish novel Like Masha in The Seagull, Sonya, the heroine of Lisa Harding’s intense and unnerving second novel, is in mourning for her life. Her Chekhovian name seems apt when we learn that “failed actress, failed mother” Sonya once triumphed in productions of Chekhov and Ibsen on the London stage, before finding herself singlehandedly bringing up her four-year-old son Tommy in the Dublin suburbs, battling alcohol dependency.

The ObserverSeptember 11 2001Distant voices, still lives, 08:00-09:35At first they phoned for help. Then they called in desperation or left promises of eternal love. This meticulous New York Times reconstruction, compiled from calls to families, is a memorial to the bravery of those trapped on the high floors of the Twin Towers08:00 - North Tower, 107th floor, Windows on the World. 2 hours 28 minutes to collapse.'Good morning, Ms Thompson.' Doris Eng's greeting was particularly sunny, like the day, as Liz Thompson rrived for breakfast atop the tallest building in the city, Thompson remembers thinking .

Colorado This article is more than 6 months oldDozens injured as apple-sized hailstones hit Colorado concertgoersThis article is more than 6 months oldOnslaught at Louis Tomlinson concert at Red Rocks amphitheater near Denver described as ‘straight out of a horror movie’ Dozens of people were injured by hailstones the size of apples that pelted concertgoers in Colorado on Wednesday night, with at least seven needing hospital treatment following the powerful storm.

Italy This article is more than 1 year oldGiuseppe Verdi’s house in Italy up for sale, ending quarrel among heirsThis article is more than 1 year oldComposer lived in Villa Verdi near Busseto for 50 years and it has been run as a museum while owners argued A country house lived in by Giuseppe Verdi for 50 years is being put up for sale, ending a long-running squabble among the Italian composer’s heirs.

Great performancesTheatreGreat performances: Judi Dench in Antony and CleopatraIn Peter Hall’s 1987 National Theatre production, Dench took Shakespeare’s character and re-created it from her own personality and imagination In the case of Judi Dench, one is confronted by an embarrassment of riches. I could choose her famous 1976 Lady Macbeth, opposite Ian McKellen, that suggested a terrified apprehension of the satanic powers the thane’s wife has invoked. In that same Stratford season, Dench was also an unforgettable Beatrice to Donald Sinden’s Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing: this was a woman whose bright-eyed merriment concealed a badly bruised heart.

ObituaryRiccardo FredaThe Italian film director Riccardo Freda, who has died aged 90, was famous for shooting spectacular costume pictures in anything from three to six weeks. Whether the setting was Babylon, St Petersburg, ancient Rome, or the Florence of the Medicis, he created authentic-looking, visually stunning backgrounds in Rome studios or locations in nearby castles and palaces. Cecil B De Mille, the New York Times once observed, would not have slept in peace if he could have seen what Freda achieved on a fraction of his budgets.

Books This article is more than 1 year oldSwedish author Karin Smirnoff pens new Dragon Tattoo novelThis article is more than 1 year oldThe Girl in the Eagle’s Talons, out in English next year, picks up from David Lagercrantz in filling out the late Stieg Larsson’s vision for a 10-book sequence The English title of the latest novel in the late Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series, and the first written by a woman, will be The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons.

Rape and sexual assaultA recent survey suggested a shockingly high proportion of women have been sexually assaulted by a partner as they slept. Now more and more are speaking out Niamh Ní Dhomhnaill had been with her partner for almost a year when she discovered that he’d been raping her while she slept. At the time, she was 25, and a language teacher in a Dublin secondary school. Her partner, Magnus Meyer Hustveit, was Norwegian.