Books I Read in February 2026

Leaving Home by Mark Haddon is the author’s memoir about his parents and growing up in Northampton in the 1970s. It is a lavishly illustrated book – Haddon is a talented artist as well as an author – which has the feel of a slightly chaotic scrapbook. Told in short episodes in non-chronological order, he dissects his repressed family life and the emotional neglect he suffered alongside his younger sister, Fiona, with devastating effect. He repeatedly apologises for what he describes as a catastrophically poor memory, yet movingly conveys the psychological profiles of his parents and the lasting impact of his upbringing on his physical and mental health up to the present day. Haddon is best known for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and his memoir is just as deeply empathetic and unique in format. Many thanks to Random House Vintage Books for sending me a review copy via NetGalley (although I would recommend reading this in hard copy if possible to fully appreciate the illustrations).

The Rose Field by Philip Pullman is the third and final book in The Book of Dust trilogy in which Lyra continues to travel across west Asia with Malcolm Polstead in search of the source of imagination. As a conclusion, I didn’t find The Rose Field as emotionally engaging as I’d hoped, which I mostly put down to the six-year gap since reading The Secret Commonwealth which I didn’t remember very well. However, based on the mixed reception The Rose Field has received on Goodreads, I’m not sure if a refresher would necessarily have helped much. Additionally, my main issue with The Secret Commonwealth was the absence of engaging younger characters which continues to be the case in The Rose Field. I think Pullman’s strengths lie in writing exciting adventures featuring children, and in my opinion, Lyra in her 20s has become much less interesting as a character than the feisty 12-year-old readers first met in Northern Lights. While His Dark Materials defied easy categorisation and had cross-generational appeal from older children through to adults, The Book of Dust trilogy seems to be aimed more towards the now adult readers who grew up with His Dark Materials rather than new young adult readers today. The prose itself is lovely throughout and there are some excellent action scenes, but The Rose Field does turn the ending of The Amber Spyglass on its head and I don’t think this is the satisfying conclusion that long-term Pullman fans were hoping for.

Book of Lives by Margaret Atwood is the Canadian author’s memoir about her eventful life and prolific writing career. Her early childhood in the forests of northern Quebec with her zoologist father and dietitian mother in the 1940s and 1950s is richly described. Atwood discusses the sources of inspiration and the process of writing the dozens of novels, poetry, short stories and non-fiction she has published over a six-decade career, and her 600-page memoir will therefore be appreciated the most by fans who are familiar with a range of her work. I hadn’t realised quite how small the Canadian literary scene was during Atwood’s early career in the 1960s and 1970s when only a handful of novels by Canadian authors were being published each year. The last section of the book is focused on life with her long-term partner, Graeme Gibson, who died suddenly while she was on a book tour for The Testaments in 2019. Now aged 86, Atwood writes with mischief when she is poking fun at herself, although she is also a bit cagey about more personal events in her life (the cover portrait and the title are both very apt). In either scenario, she always tells amusing anecdotes.