EtymologiconThe massive Christmas 2011 bestseller and Radio 4 Book of the Week

As the political climate gets increasingly unpredictable

if the next few years - indeed the next decade - are not to be even more painful

as well as cultural figures from Aristotle to Shakespeare and Picasso

For her name is actually Jeanine Foucamprez - and her story is very different from the glamorous life of a star

peppered with much eating and drinking

Lila married at 16 and has a young son

and the pastry chef and lifelong vegetarian

'Wonderfully researched and beautifully written' Philip Hoare

Daniel was more like their mother: gentle and kind

their natural history

at times horrifying and occasionally heartbreaking diaries of a former junior doctor

and each has secrets of their own