Which novels or memoirs will help prepare me for motherhood? Francesca Segal recommends literary explorations of new emotional territory
How we made the Keep Calm and Carry On poster ‘When I’m asked why it’s so popular, I always say the same thing: it’s cheaper than antidepressants’
Isabel Hardman: ‘One of my most exciting botanical finds was in a Glasgow car park’ The journalist and author on how nature can boost mental health treatment, even on lockdown
Endell Street by Wendy Moore review – the suffragette surgeons A fascinating, carefully researched study of life partners who became pioneering army hospital doctors in the first world war
The Better Half by Sharon Moalem review – on the genetic superiority of women Women live longer than men. We know Covid-19 is killing more men than women. This book is an antidote to the myth of the ‘weaker sex’
Tiger King and a bloody mary: Hilary Mantel, Simon Armitage and other writers on lockdown life Simon Armitage pogos to neo-punk, Anne Enright craves for Cary Grant, The Seventh Seal cheers up Julian Barnes, Diana Evans works out to hip-hop and Jeanette Winterson talks to herself … writers reveal how they’re surviving the corona crisis
In brief: The Bass Rock; Radical Acts of Love; Letters of Note: Mothers – review The subjugation of women throughout history, how to accept death without despair and a selection of letters about mothers
From splendid to stressful: a short history of isolation Not that long ago, the concept of isolation was seen as something of a luxury
Don’t panic: the best books to help us survive a crisis Joe Moran looks at books on how to keep calm in times of adversity - and take joy where we find it