Books I Read in April 2025

Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tells the interconnected stories of four Nigerian women who live in the United States. Chiamaka is a travel writer based in Maryland who reminisces about unsatisfying relationships, her friend Zikora is a lawyer, and her cousin Omelogor is a former banker turned grad student. However, the most affecting part of the book belongs to Kadiatou, a maid violently assaulted by a rich hotel guest, and Adichie writes in an afterword that this part of the story was inspired by the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case in 2011. The prose is smooth and well-crafted and the characterisation of the four women is rich and multi-layered almost to the point of being ornate, and slightly at the expense of a coherent narrative arc. Overall, I think Americanah was a bit more satisfying as a whole, but Dream Count is a much welcome return after more than a decade.

John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs by Ian Leslie achieves the near-impossible in finding a new lens through which to examine the Beatles. It’s odd that it has taken so long for a major biography to look specifically at the dynamic between John Lennon and Paul McCartney, with George Harrison and Ringo Starr very much relegated to bit parts in this version of the band’s story. Leslie is excellent at dissecting the songs and explaining just how completely weird many of them are, alongside astute psychological analysis of Lennon and McCartney’s personal chemistry, and how their songwriting partnership was shaped by a complex mix of close friendship and creative rivalry. This book probably won’t unearth lots of new facts or change your mind about which of the two you prefer (Paul is still my favourite Beatle), but it is no mean feat to cast fresh light on the biggest band in the world in a truly engaging way.

Picnic on Craggy Island by Lissa Evans is a short collection of memories about the author’s experience as a producer on series 2 and 3 of the Channel 4 comedy series Father Ted in the 1990s about three eccentric priests and their housekeeper living on a windswept island off the west coast of Ireland. It gives a little insight into the specific challenges of making the programme – the unforgiving Irish climate for outdoor filming, Graham Norton’s over-the-top audition for the part of Father Noel and the expense of filming six-second cutaway gags inspired by the writing style of The Simpsons. It’s a personal and nostalgic yet all-too-brief reminder of a classic sitcom which will leave fans wanting more.

Story of a Murder by Hallie Rubenhold is a gripping account of the murder in 1910 of music hall entertainer Cora Crippen, known professionally as Belle Elmore, by her husband Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen. Rubenhold examines the background of the case including the life of Dr Crippen’s first wife, Charlotte, who died in mysterious circumstances in the United States, and Crippen’s mistress, Ethel le Neve, who was acquitted of any wrongdoing in Belle’s death, despite a fair amount of evidence showing that she was complicit. Thanks to the determination of Belle’s friends to find out what happened to her, Crippen’s crime was uncovered and he was convicted in a much publicised trial in London, even though the defence attempted to portray Belle as a difficult woman keeping two lovers apart. Rubenhold’s ethical approach to historical true crime combines thorough research oriented towards honouring the victims rather than concentrating on the perpetrator, and it is as compelling here as it was in The Five.