The Oldie’s novel of the month for October 2017 tells the story of Victor Forde, alone for the first time in a decade. He routinely drinks at Donnelly’s every evening, on his own, until he is approached by Fitzpatrick, who knows and remembers an awful lot more about him than Victor would like. 

After a lifetime exploring, celebrating and conserving the iconic British landscape, Lister-Kaye harks back to his childhood holidays when he felt most at one with nature. Tracking his route into his two life passions – exploring nature and writing about it – this is a romantic tribute to the wild.

Some call him the greatest amateur chef in the world, but what Meades claims here is that the ‘inventing’ of dishes and culinary originality is a myth. He notes how all dishes are either hijacked, adapted or improved and suddenly ‘made your own’. Ironically, he includes his 125 favourite recipes.

Never too far from controversy, this kaleidoscopic depiction of the Queen’s sister is entertaining and educative. Brown achieves an extraordinary balance in views that give the reader the fullest possible insight into a royal who divided opinion.

As a first novel, it is incredibly ambitious, but remarkably brilliant. Going to and from the 17th and 20th centuries, Hughes-Hallett draws parallels between two totally different places that are strangely linked. In 1665, Wychwood House is building a wall. As is Berlin, 300 years later.

As Roy delves into political activism in her writing, she depicts recent Indian history viewed through the opinions of numerous outsiders in society. The Evening Standard says ‘there is a democracy of voice’ throughout the whole story.

Following on from her bestselling My Name is Lucy Barton, Strout returns as she records Barton’s return to Amgash, Illinois, to visit family and friends she left behind. Covering the predicaments of many of the townspeople, this novel picks up on issues of love and the race for happiness.

Few are more important in the gene-investigating world than Jennifer Doudna. Her recent discovery of Crispr is thought to be, in Doudna’s words, ‘the future of medicine’. Crispr allows us to cut strands of DNA at precise locations, meaning the eradication of genetic diseases is a possibility.

As the search for a cure goes on past the century mark, neuroscientist Jebelli brings new hope. ‘The world is closing in on Alzheimer’s,’ he says, before suggesting a cure will be found within most of our lifetimes; and histalking to stoic sufferers makes this a touching read.

Magdalena, renowned for reviving rare species of plant species from the brink of extinction, here records his time doing just that. Unsurprisingly, botanical horticulturalist at Kew Gardens deems himself to be the ‘Plant Messiah’ – he even has the appropriate flowing brown locks.

The Guardian deemed this study ‘a poetic soaring exploration’ into the daily lives of seabirds. Every page contains at least one startling fact; the detail that Nicolson achieves is something to savour. Inspired by his time in the Shiant Islands, in the Hebrides, this is beautifully composed.

This is the delightful story of how Jay, an 81-year-old retired scientist, and his son Daniel form a powerful bond over their reading of Homer’s classic. The demonstration of filial love is at its strongest when the pair decide to embark on a journey in the wake of Odysseus. 

Thomas challenges the well-founded view that human beings have detrimentally damaged the natural world. He points out that the rate at which new species are being formed is probably the highest in Earth’s history. This round-the-world journey introduces the reader to animals thriving in the Anthropocene period.

This detailed, enthusiastic account is less a history of people than of procedures. The heart beats three billion times over the average life; it is the essence of our being. Morris tracks the surgical brilliance but also the hubris that has seen humans able to resuscitate and to transplant. 

This is a witty protest against the Americanisms that are corrupting the British English spoken in the UK. Engel illustrates just how many of these second-rate words have slipped into all of our vocabularies, including Theresa May’s. A funny and light-hearted read.

Storr validly argues that we live in an age of supreme self-centredness, and we are engrossed in the dangerously powerful myth of perfectible selfhood that only makes us unhappy. Storr traces the journey of this phenomenon that has started to overcome us, taking a cynical stance.

After the ten-year anniversary of the release of the iPhone, Merchant has put together a comprehensive history of the mobile phone that has been sold over one billion times. Full of previously unknown details and anecdotes, this is a celebration of the world’s favourite mobile phone.

As the Guardian proclaimed, this is a ‘compelling and compassionate survey of British Islam’. Fergusson travels to the Muslim heartlands in Britain, including High Wycombe, Bradford and Glasgow, where he finds an alarming number of Muslims young and old feeling alienated from what is their country.

Between fifty and 100 million people were killed by the pandemic that stormed the world as the First World War came to a close. The SundayTimes reviewer noted that ‘Spinney’s fluent investigation weaves together global history and medical science, to make chilling reading’.

Despite only being only the world’s ninetieth-largest diamond, no other diamond has had as much blood shed over it. Travel writer Dalrymple and biographer Anand team up to describe a history of a stone representing power, and the lengths people were willing to go to possess it.

The Spectator’s reviewer concluded that ‘without such widespread crackpot beliefs the Nazis might just have won the war’. Kurlander exposes the corrupted, strange and possessive spirituality of the Nazi high command.

A topical read, as tensions between East and West over spying allegations reach similar levels to those of the 1980s. Hoffman pays tribute to the career of Adolf Tolkachev, who spied for the CIA on the USSR. This book offers a sure way into the how the spy mind works.

Raulff looks into the period from the pivotal cavalry charges of the Napoleonic Wars to the hopeless, death-ridden charges of the First World War, which marked the end of a millennia-long relationship between humans and horses. Facts, stories and forays make this an enlightening read.

Following ‘The Fishing Fleet’ – her study of the women who travelled to India to find husbands – de Courcy investigates the American heiresses who married into the British aristocracy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. An insight into a rigidly structured society.

Aged 32 and pregnant with her third child, Ruth Fitzmaurice’s husband, Simon, was diagnosed with motor neurone disease and given four years to live. Nine years later, with Simon only communicating with his eyes, Ruth joins the ‘Tragic Wives Swimming Club’, which keeps her going.