Defiant
Robert Verkaik
Robinson, £20, pp384
The role of fighter planes such as Spitfires and Hurricanes during the Battle of Britain is widely celebrated, but what of the lesser-known Boulton Paul Defiants? The RAF interceptor aircraft are now regarded as a design failure, but in this engrossing and persuasive history, Robert Verkaik makes a revisionist case for their underappreciated abilities, using a wide assortment of previously unseen documents and pilots’ diaries. Defiant is both a stirring testament to the courage of the men who flew them and a welcome new examination of one of the second world war’s most famous conflicts.
Looking for Eliza
Leaf Arbuthnot
Trapeze, £14.99, pp323
Leaf Arbuthnot’s debut novel is a sensitively written and well-observed story, reminiscent of Penelope Fitzgerald. It revolves around the unlikely friendship that arises between two Oxford residents, young queer postgraduate student Eliza and the widowed poet turned “Rent-a-Gran” Ada and the ways in which they deal with their shared loneliness. It may be too slowly paced and low key for readers expecting greater drama, but Arbuthnot has a real affinity for the fashion in which women, especially, can simply become invisible to the wider world at all times of life.
The Forager’s Calendar
John Wright
Profile, £10.99, pp399
Many people are attracted to the idea of foraging, but very few know anything about it. This is where the expert forager John Wright comes in, as an informative guide to the natural world. He states early on that searching for one’s food is not a “middle-class fad”, but instead a time-honoured means of obtaining resources from the ground. Wright is an authoritative and often funny guide to the practice of foraging and by the end he makes finding one’s dinner from the earth sound immensely appealing.
• To order Defiant, Looking for Eliza or The Forager’s Calendar, go to guardianbookshop.com. Free UK p&p over £15
