Justin Cartwright's Blog, page 4

Justin Cartwright: 'Blair makes it clear that he found Brown dull and slow'

The novelist gives his verdict on Tony Blair's memoir

Once upon a life: Justin Cartwright

He started out as a copywriter, became the crown prince of pet-food commercials then directed a soft-porn film no one wants to remember. But finally he put pen to paper and wrote his first novel. It was a moment that changed his life forever

Under the Sun edited by Elizabeth Chatwin and Nicholas Shakespeare

Bruce Chatwin was often accused of fabrication, but his letters reveal the genuine writer in a fervour of discovery

Young Mandela by David James Smith

A fascinating account of Mandela's early life reveals a man whose uncompromising desire for social change was often at the expense of his own family

District Six revisited: South Africa's new Fugard Theatre

The new Fugard Theatre, which has opened in a Cape Town district destroyed by apartheid, is staging wonderful productions. For Justin Cartwright it's a symbol of South Africa as a place of hope and possibility

Nelson Mandela archive will remind people of what he fought for

The Mandela archive soon to be published promises a wealth of new material about the great man. There will be extracts from his prison diaries, unseen letters and journals and drafts of speeches. Personal reflections on his role in South Africa and the wider world are promised. I can't wait, because there are some very big questions that have still not been answered.

A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks

Sebastian Faulks's hugely ambitious novel is a delightful and witty satire on contemporary London life, says Justin Cartwright