Jane Jakeman:

Literary, film and radio reviews and articles


  • "Hate Mayle". In: The Modern Review, February-March 1993.
  • "The real thing". Review of M. Pendergrast, For God, Country and Coca-Cola: The Unauthorized History of the World's Most Popular Soft Drink (Weidenfeld & Nicolson). In: The Modern Review, August-September 1993.
  • "To carve the jelly with". Review of H. Petroski, The Evolution of Useful Things (Pavilion Books). In: Oxford Magazine, Eighth Week, Michaelmas Term, 1993.
  • "Angela Carter's womb". In: The Modern Review, October-November 1993.
  • "Susan Hill's tear ducts". In: The Modern Review, December-January 1993-4.
  • "John Updike's clitoris". In: The Modern Review, January-February 1994.
  • "It's a royal knockabout". In: The Modern Review, February-March 1994.
  • Review of The Joy Luck Club (dir. Wayne Wang). In: The Modern Review, April-May 1994.
  • Review of A. Pirinçci, Felidae on the Road (Fourth Estate). In: The Modern Review, June-July 1994.
  • "Tat's magic!" In: The Modern Review, August-September 1994.
  • "A spyhole for leering at life". In: The Independent, November 8, 1994.
  • "Lost spirit of Christmas past". In: The Independent, December 24, 1994.
  • "One in the eye for connoisseurs". In: The Independent, February 1, 1995.
  • "Fairy stories". In: The Modern Review, February-March 1995.
  • "USA today". Review of M. Bradbury, Dangerous Pilgrimages (Secker and Warburg). In: The Modern Review, April-May 1995.
  • "Mutton dressed as ram". In: The Guardian, October 2, 1995.
  • "Tragic death on the Nile". In: The Guardian, December 22, 1995.
  • "Whodunnits". In: The Modern Review c.1995.
  • "Rushdie the Twat and the Fatwa". In: Spiked, c.1995.
  • "Film visions". Exhibition The Director's Eye, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford. In: Oxford Magazine, Eighth Week, Hilary Term, 1996.
  • [On erotica literature] In: The Independent, February 7, 1998.
  • "Traumatised on Tyneside". Review of C. Cookson, The Solace of Sin (Bantam). In: The Independent, March 21, 1998.
  • "Carrying on further up the farthingdale". Review of R. Nye, The Late Mr. Shakespeare (Chatto & Windus). In: The Independent, April 18, 1998.
  • "Which of these titles is porn?" In: The Times Higher Education Supplement, May 22, 1998.
  • "An escape from the slums". [On the novels by Catherine Cookson] In: New Statesman, October 9, 1998.
  • Review of P. Lively, Spiderweb (Viking). In: New Statesman, October 23, 1998.
  • "Casanova, your playing days are over". Review of S. Zweig, Casanova: A Study in Self-portraiture (Pushkin Press), A. Schnitzler, Casanova's Return to Venice (Pushkin Press), A. Miller, Casanova (Sceptre) and L. Flem, Casanova or the Art of Happiness (Allen Lane). In: New Statesman, November 13, 1998.
  • "Hearts and flowers". Review of J. Dixon, The Romance Fiction of Mills & Boon, 1909-90 (UCL Press) and J. Cade, Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days (Peter Owen). In: New Statesman, 5 March, 1999.
  • "Born to roam". Review of Moris Farhi, Children of the Rainbow (Saqi Books). In: New Statesman, 5 July 1999.
  • "Distant voices, other lives". In: New Statesman, October 4, 1999.
  • "Raymond Chandler and Oxford". In: Oxford Today, 12 [1], 1999.
  • "Bloomsbury won the peace". In: New Statesman, November 15, 1999.
  • [Best books of 1999] In The Independent, November 20, 1999.
  • "A secret garden of turnips and killer castanets". Review of R. Irwin, Night and Horses and the Desert: an Anthology of Classical Arabic Literature (Allen Lane). In: The Independent, November 22, 1999.
  • [A note on] M. Farhi, Children of the Rainbow (Saqi Books). In: New Statesman, November 29, 1999.
  • "Don't boil the coffee". Review of W. Ellis, The Country Housewife's Family Companion (Prospect). In: The Times Literary Supplement, July 21, 2000.
  • [A note on books published in 2000] In: The Independent, November 25, 2000.
  • "Fight the good fight". Review of F. Colonna, Hyperotomachia Poliphili. The Strife of Love in a Dream (Thames & Hudson). In: Oxford Magazine, Second Week, Hilary Term, 2000.
  • "Fantasy, religion and the Renaissance". Review of L. Jardine and J. Brotton, Global Interests: Renaissance Art between East and West (Reaktion Books). In: The Independent, January 9, 2001.
  • "Lone star of the desert". Review of S. Zuhur, Asmahan's Secrets: women, war and song (Saqi Books). In: The Independent, April 14, 2001.
  • "Amelia Edwards: Versatile Victorian who brought the past to life". In: Solander. The Magazine of the Historical Novel Society 5 [1] (May 2001).
  • "A kiss of life for the historical novel". Review of Tracy Chevalier, Falling Angels (HarperCollins). In: The Independent, August 29, 2001.
  • "The decoding of a fascinating human story". Review of A. Robinson, The Man Who Deciphered Linear B (Thames & Hudson). In: The Independent, April 24, 2002.
  • "The sex lives of the artists". Review of J. Alison, The Love Artist (Allison & Busby) and C. Peachment, Caravaggio (Picador). In: The Independent, March 16, 2002.
  • "Wall of silence". Review of E. Speller, Following Hadrian (Review). In: The Independent, June 8, 2002.
  • "Architect meets match among village people". Review of J. Poster, Courting Shadows (Sceptre). In: The Independent, September 2, 2002.
  • [Best books of 2002] in The Independent, November 23, 2002.
  • "Streams of consciousness". Review of M. Faber, The Crimson Petal and the White (Canongate). In: The Independent, c. 2002.
  • "Tip the soup into the horse trough!" Review of L. Doughty, Fires in the Dark (Simon & Schuster). In: The Independent Magazine, c.2002+.
  • Review of M. Scott, Boudica, Dreaming the Eagle (Bantam). In: Scotland on Sunday, c.2002.
  • "A novel perspective on history when fact blends into fiction". In: The Independent, December 3, 2003.
  • Review of P. Sussman, The Lost Army of Cambyses (Bantam), G. Pelecanos, Hell to Pay (Orion), D. Leon, Wilful Behaviour (Heinemann) and K. Page, The Story of My Face (Weidenfeld & Nicolson). In: Scotland on Sunday, c.2003.
  • "The talented, and scary, Ms Highsmith". Review of A. Wilson, Beautiful Shadow: a life of Patricia Highsmith (Bloomsbury). In: The Independent, c.2003.
  • "Orgies of spin at a monster's ball". Review of A. Massie, Caligula (Sceptre) and E. Champlin, Nero (Harvard University Press). In: The Independent, January 9, 2004.
  • "Oaths of blood in a land of gun law". Review of T. Franklin, Hell at the Breech (Flamingo). In: The Independent, March 17, 2004.
  • Review of A Thousand and One. A journey through Arabian Nights (BBC Radio 4). In: The Times Literary Supplement, June 4, 2004.
  • "The case of Agatha in Babylon". Review of A. Eames, The 8.55 to Baghdad (Bantam). In: The Independent, July 9, 2004.
  • "The recreated world of a warrior queen". Review of M. Scott, Boudica: Dreaming the Hound (Bantam). In: The Independent, February 11, 2005.
  • Review of Ziauddin Sardar, Desperately Seeking Paradise. Journeys of a sceptical Muslim (Granta), and Sohail Inayatullah and G. Boxwell (eds.), Islam, Postmodernism and Other Futures (Pluto). In: The Times Literary Supplement, March 4, 2005.
  • "Sketched symbols". Okasha El-Daly, Egyptology. The missing millennium: Ancient Egypt in medieval Arabic writings (UCL Press). In: The Times Literary Supplement, Nov. 4, 2005.
  • "Floundering in Flanders fields". Review of B. Elton, The First Casualty (Bantam). In: The Independent, November 11, 2005.
  • "A silver cigarette case". Review of S. Shimon, An Iraqi in Paris. An autobiographical novel (Banipal Books). In: The Times Literary Supplement, Jan. 27, 2006.
  • "British myth and magic from the mists of time". Review of M. Scott, Boudica: Dreaming the serpent spear (Bantam). In: The Independent, February 17, 2006.
  • "The arquebusier's tale". Review of T. Willocks, The Religion (Cape). In: The Times Literary Supplement, August 11, 2006.
  • Review of M. Pryce, The Unbearable Lightness of Being in Aberystwyth (Bloomsbury). c.2006.
  • "Young Turks, old secrets and quiet Americans". Review of M. Freely, Enlightenment (Marion Boyars). In: The Independent, April 13, 2007.
  • "Mysterious affairs re-styled". Review of L. Thompson, Agatha Christie: an English mystery. In: The Independent, October 5, 2007.
  • "A Cretan to the end". Review of I. Grundon, The Rash Adventurer. A Life of John Pendlebury. In: The Times Literary Supplement, October 18, 2007.
  • "Ancient Egyptians". Review of N. Mahfouz, Three Novels of Ancient Egypt. Khufu's Wisdom. Rhadopis of Nubia. Thebes at War (Everyman's Library). In: The Times Literary Supplement, October 26, 2007.
  • Review of P. Matyszak, Ancient Rome on Five Denarii a Day (Thames and Hudson). In: The Times Literary Supplement, November 2, 2007.
  • "From the battlements". Review of I. Kadare, The Siege (Canongate). In: The Times Literary Supplement, May 30, 2008.
  • Review of A. Verghese, Cutting for Stone (Chatto and Windus). In: The Times Literary Supplement, May 1, 2009.
  • "A stone in the river". Review of A. Michaels, The Winter Vault (Bloomsbury). In: The Times Literary Supplement, May 29, 2009.
  • Review of P. Sussman, The Hidden Oasis (Bantam). In: The Times Literary Supplement, December 18, 2009.
  • "Burning beliefs in Nero's combustible city". Review of M. C. Scott, Rome: the Emperor's Spy (Bantam). In: The Independent, January 1, 2010.
  • "A brief, disturbing history of evil". Review of J. Chessex, A Jew Must Die (Bitter Lemon). In: The Independent, February 5, 2010.
  • "Daring diva from a stormy port". Review of J. L. Williams, Miss Shirley Bassey (Quercus). In: The Independent, October 8, 2010.
  • "A seriously good wild goose chase". Review of S. Duffy, Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore (Virago). In: The Independent, August 11, 2010.
  • "Lost digger". Review of S. Quirke, Hidden Hands. Egyptian workforces in Petrie excavation archives, 1880-1924 (Duckworth). In: The Times Literary Supplement, February 18, 2011.
  • "A truly riveting return". Review of M. C. Scott, Rome: the Coming of the King (Bantam). In: The Independent, May 11, 2011.
  • "Surreal tale is absurdly entertaining". Review of A. Kurkov, The Milkman in the Night (Harvill Secker). In: The Independent, September 27, 2011.
  • Review of J. Abt, American Egyptologist. The Life of James Henry Breasted and the creation of his Oriental Institute (University of Chicago Press). In: The Times Literary Supplement, January 6, 2012.
  • Review of B. Kane, Spartacus: the Gladiator (Preface). In: The Independent, January 30, 2012.
  • "Prince of dissent". Review of M. Litvin, Hamlet's Arab Journey (Princeton University Press). In: The Times Literary Supplement, April 20, 2012.
  • Review of L. Davis, Master and God (Hodder & Stoughton). In: The Independent, May 23, 2012.
  • "A tiger's leap". Exhibition Dickens and his World, Bodleian Library, Oxford. In: Oxford Magazine, Noughth Week, Michaelmas Term, 2012, 21.

  • Review of Selçuk Altun, The Sultan of Byzantium (Telegram). In: The Independent, December 20, 2012.

  • "The flowers of the forest are a'wede away". Review of G. Goodwin, Fatal Rivalry: Flodden, 1513 (Weidenfeld & Nicolson). In: The Independent, July 20, 2013
  • "Ambassadors of darkness at large in the shadowy City of Light". Review of L. Appignanesi, Paris Requiem (Arcadia). In: The Independent, Radar, August 24, 2013.
  • Review of E. Shomer, The Twelve Rooms of the Nile (Simon & Schuster). In: ASTENE Bulletin 57 (Autumn 2013), 13-14.
  • Review of J. Cartwright, Lion Heart (Bloomsbury). In: The Times Literary Supplement, December 13, 2013.
  • "Persia's kings and assassins brought back to life". Review of Kader Abdolah, The King (Canongate). In: The Independent, Radar, January 25, 2014.
  • "A rip-roaring ride through a violence-riven Raj". Review of M. J. Carter, The Strangler Vine (Fig Tree). In: The Independent, February 3, 2014.
  • "A fictional escape from sordid history". Review of L. Padura, The Man Who Loved Dogs (Bitter Lemon Press). In: The Independent, Radar, February 15, 2014.
  • "Glimpses of a sheikh". Review of Penelope Tuson, Western Women Travelling East, 1716-1916 (Oxford University Press). In: The Times Literary Supplement, May 8, 2015.
  • "Old treasure turns to Booker gold". Review of Laila Lalami, The Moor's Account (Periscope). In: The Independent, Radar, August 29, 2015.
  • "Promising debut squeezes the juice from Sanskrit classic". Review of P. M. M. Cooper, River of Ink (Bloomsbury). In: The Independent, February 10, 2016.
  • "Ancestral lies". Review of Robert Irwin, Wonders will never Cease (Dedalus). In: The Times Literary Supplement, December 23 and 30, 2016.
  • "Spanish fiction". Review of Leonardo Padura, Heretics (Bitter Lemon Press). In: The Times Literary Supplement, June 23, 2017.