Alone With a Book by Tessa Hadley review – an acclaimed writer’s cultural prescription

This collection of essays from the beloved novelist is full of gem-like insights on art and books

When Tessa Hadley was a child, someone gave her a copy of Lois Lenski’s Papa Small, which follows Mr Small and his family through a typical week. Papa Small goes to work, Mama Small cooks the supper, and the small Smalls dry and put away the dishes. “I thrilled to its ordinariness,” writes Hadley, a novelist known for her depictions of the ordinary that are anything but. In all her novels and short stories, she’s spectacularly alive to the everyday, both the seemingly humdrum surfaces and the darkest emotional depths.

So you know what you’re in for when you reach for a book by Hadley, which is why I was in equal parts excited and apprehensive about her first foray into nonfiction. At least, it’s her first in bound form: Alone With a Book comprises published essays written since 2000. A nimble mix of biography, cultural criticism and personal reflection, it traces her development as both a reader and a writer, and burrows into the literary and artistic works that have kept her company along the way. For fans, it’s a fascinating insight into how and why she became the beloved author she is. For the rest, it’s a first-class reading (and picture) list.