It is impossible to tell from Renoir’s celebrated portrait of two delightful, pampered-looking girls that its subject — and their family at large — are destined for a horrible end; one of the girls would be murdered in Auschwitz, by then an elderly lady. The world of Catherine Ostler's The Renoir Girls is that of the super-rich Jewish bankers of late C19th France, great patrons of the arts and apparently assimilated, whose position was shown by the Dreyfus Affair to be fragile and reached its appalling conclusions under Vichy. It is the world of Proust and, of course, The Hare With Amber Eyes, whose characters were cousins of the Renoir girls and whose author (Edmund de Waal) soundly endorses this book on its cover. The book is excellent and has received some terrific reviews, which word-of-mouth responses so far have unequivocally supported. 

Interviewed by John de Falbe 

Edited by Magnus Rena 

Simard is a genius of modern forest ecology. Her first book, Finding the Mother Tree, was at the vanguard of humanity’s understanding of the interconnectedness of trees and we were honoured that she could come to Sandoe’s to talk to us on our podcast. In this second book, When the Forest Breathes, published in March this year, the Canadian scientist recounts her ongoing research, with profound lessons on environmental degradation and methods of restoration. Once again, her narrative is both compelling and moving. 

Suzanne has kindly signed copies of her book; please email or call to reserve one. 

Interviewed by Arabella Friesen 

Edited by Magnus Rena

Our first podcast for 2026 is with Jane Rogoyska, the author of Hotel Exile: Paris in the Shadow of War. Divided into three parts, it tells the story of the influx of mostly German refugees into Paris following the rise of the Nazis, and how the Hotel Lutetia, a grand hotel on the Left Bank, became a focus for them in organizing some kind of resistance to the regime at home. After the German Occupation, the same hotel became the headquarters of Military Intelligence, the Abwehr; and then, after the Liberation, the hotel mutated into a reception centre for deportees returning from the concentration camps. The book has received superb reviews across the media and is immensely readable. 

The book is available now at £25 and Jane has kindly signed copies for us. Email, call or order online if you would like a copy. 

Interviewed by Johnny de Falbe 

Edited by Magnus Rena 

We are delighted to have Juliet back on our podcast. Her books have been regular bestsellers at Sandoe’s: The Perfect Summer, A House Full of Daughters, Frostquake, which she spoke about on the podcast in 2020. Her new book looks at the dynamics of corrosive secrets that women have been obliged to keep, how those secrets fit into a broader social context and how exposing them has been a release for many. Her own family is the starting point for her investigation; numerous case studies follow. 

Interviewed by Johnny de Falbe 

Edited by Magnus Rena

A mentor to Le Corbusier, Ozenfant was an artist and critic who ran art schools in Paris and London in the 1920s and ’30s. Highly regarded, he knew everyone; Leonora Carrington was a student, Henry Moore worked for him, Paolozzi admired him. Despite his connections, energy and talent, his star dimmed and he passed into obscurity. This short, beautifully written book is a superb resuscitation of a fascinating individual whose influence was – and is – far-reaching. Johnny speaks to its author, Charles Darwent — art critic and reviewer. 

Photo: Ozenfant (left) and Le Corbusier launching their new magazine, L'Esprit nouveau, in 1920, from a fake hot air balloon. 

Interviewed by Johnny de Falbe 

Edited by Magnus Rena 

We are delighted to bring you a new episode of our podcast: a conversation with Jonas Hassen Khemiri. He is a Swedish novelist and playwright, a teacher on the creative writing course at NYU and a finalist for the National Book Award. His writing is warm and playful, often concerned with his own Swedish-Tunisian heritage and with the joys and exasperations of being a writer, a father and a partner — rarely in that order. The Sisters is his latest novel, and his first to be written originally in English. It’s a wonderful, expansive book set between Tunis, Stockholm, Paris, Berlin and New York, beginning in 1999 and ending several decades later, the three sisters of the title having grown from adolescence into middle age. 

He spoke to Magnus about his approach to fiction, about place, ambition, migration and home, as well as David Foster Wallace, the Rockefeller Building, IKEA bags and the strange relief that comes from writing your own family into a novel. 

Interviewed and edited by Magnus Rena 

Horatio is an outstanding writer of literary non-fiction. He’s written before about life on a container ship and on an icebreaker, three memoirs, two important books on acute mental crisis, a glorious book on Bach, a book on curlews and swallows, three delightful books for young children and a couple more on Welsh myths — all in addition to regular journalism.

With the small boats crisis as its focus, We Came By Sea is an exemplary work of reportage, motivated by curiosity and a suspicion of prevailing narratives.

This short book began ‘with a feeling of deep disquiet’ brought on by reading the reports (suspiciously consistent in tone and agenda) of people coming to Britain’s south coast in small boats from France since 2020. Sceptical of the single narrative and cautious of the political winds of recent years, Clare visited Dover, Calais, Cornwall and Merseyside, where some refugees were housed as they waited for their applications to be processed. He also talks to people involved with the crisis in every kind of capacity. Observant and careful, he writes what he sees; exposes hypocrisy, corruption, lies, political cynicism and undue profit at the taxpayer’s expense – while celebrating the extraordinary courage and tenacity of the search and rescue teams and charities involved.

Interviewed by Johnny de Falbe 

Edited by Magnus Rena 

Bouverie's first book, Appeasing Hitler, was a tremendous success. His second — a history of the alliance that won the war — is once again fascinating and beautifully written. He spoke to Johnny about the destruction of the French fleet by the British (they had been allies months earlier), the betrayal of Poland, and the significance of public opinion for democracies at war; offensives that would stir a sense of patriotism back home were as important as those which were strategically necessary.

Interviewed by John de Falbe 

Edited by Magnus Rena

Dalton, who has worked for over a decade as a parliamentary and Foreign Office policy advisor and speech-writer, found herself raising a leveret in lockdown. Her approach was to intervene as little as possible and allow the animal to remain wild – yet it still comes to snooze in her house, and has now raised leverets that treat Dalton’s small converted barn as their own. She spoke to Arabella about this improbable experience, about swapping the city for the country, and writing her first book – which has just been shortlisted for the Hatchards First Biography Prize. 

Interviewed by Arabella Friesen 

Edited by Magnus Rena

The scapegoat in question is the Duke of Buckingham: favourite and lover of James I and beloved friend of his son; husband, father, art collector, tireless statesman… The cost of his pearl-spilling outfit when he went to meet Henrietta Maria would have paid the mercenary army for four months. He was hated so fiercely by the time of his stabbing in a Portsmouth inn that his murderer was cheered en route to London. This biography of the fabulously handsome skimbleshanks is a scintillating portrait of a complex man and his tumultuous times. 

Interviewed by Johnny de Falbe 

Edited by Magnus Rena