French prime minister survives two votes of no confidence – but at what cost?

My Brilliant Friend is the gripping first volume in Elena Ferrante’s widely acclaimed Neapolitan Novels. The story begins in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples, where Elena and Lila form a complex and intense friendship. Through their lives, Ferrante tells the story of a neighborhood, a city, and a country as it undergoes significant transformations. The novel explores themes of female experience, rivalry, and friendship, creating an unsentimental portrait of two girls’ path into womanhood and the broader societal changes around them.

In 'Operation Mincemeat', Ben Macintyre recounts the extraordinary true story of how British intelligence officers Charles Cholmondeley and Ewen Montagu devised a plan to deceive the Nazis. The plan involved using a corpse equipped with false documents to mislead the Germans about the Allied invasion of Sicily. The operation, approved by high-ranking officials including Ian Fleming, was a complex and risky deception that ultimately succeeded in convincing the Nazis that the invasion would occur in Greece or Sardinia, rather than Sicily. The book delves into the intricate details of the operation, the personalities involved, and the broader context of wartime espionage.