12 September 1952: Tough writing in the best sense of the word

Writers from Alexandre Dumas to Jack Kerouac and Colson Whitehead have written fiction worth bonding with about these sometimes uneasy alliances

Whether they induce schadenfreude or pangs of recognition, mismatched couples have inspired brilliant novels by authors from Evelyn Waugh to Jean Rhys

From George Orwell to Daphne du Maurier, the books that made a decade span village detectives, Edwardian butlers and Bright Young Things

The author and journalist on his two unopened copies of Stephen Hawking’s great work and not getting on with Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy

With our increased physical distance from each other, novels about forbidden touch and longing are more seductive than ever

From Evelyn Waugh to Molesworth, novels set in these places of privilege are microcosmic studies of oppression and rebellion

An urbane attempt to offer belated autonomy to a small band of well-born, well-connected young women

From Martin Amis to Robert Robinson, our expert recommends the writers who provide a funny respite from real life

A celebration of Auberon Waugh; a millennial caught between two countries; and Dr Sue Black on the meaning of death

From Viking magical mead poetry to Evelyn Waugh’s Decline and Fall, here’s how writers have encapsulated an eternal boozy truth