Katie Owen and Sally Cousins review new paperbacks More new paperbacksThe Perilous Crown by Munro Price In this masterful work, Munro Price illuminates the relatively neglected period of French history between 1815 and 1848. It was the time when France's political system drew closest to England's. The country's last king, Louis-Philippe, was its most successful constitutional monarch and is this book's hero. Price also puts into the foreground the life of Louis-Philippe's brilliant sister Adélaïde, with whom he made all his important decisions. Letters and diaries, many not seen before, help recreate an extraordinary relationship. KO A Guinea Pig's History of Biology by Jim Endersby For his first book, the scientific historian Jim Endersby has bitten off a huge subject: genetic inheritance. The result is a richly expansive survey whose heroes are not all human. The guinea pig, the passion flower and the zebra fish, organisms used in ground-breaking experiments, feature as prominently as famous scientists such as Darwin. The thought-provoking moral of Endersby's overview is that what is proved true today may well be proved wrong in the future. KO The Pyjama Game by Mark Law This lively book describes the practice and history of judo, a martial art that many find hard to understand: it is, says Mark Law, 'too fast, too subtle, too foreign'. Judo's complexity requires a practitioner to explain it, and, even though he only began learning the game at nearly 50, this is what the journalist author became. His book, as well as telling the stories of champions from the mid-19th century onwards, is a story of mid-life discovery. Law conveys his enthusiasm with infectious energy. KO British Architectural Styles by Trevor Yorke This is a wonderfully compact guide to architectural styles from the Tudor period up to the 1930s, covering domestic buildings from palaces to terrace houses. Trevor Yorke's drawings are charming as well as clearly labelled and his concise commentary puts each style and architect in historical context. He points out, for example, the effect of the Great Fire of London in leading to better building methods, and how increased railway travel in the Edwardian era paved the way for the suburban 'semi'. There's a time chart and glossary, too. KO Redemption Falls by Joseph O'Connor For a long time an unsung journeyman, the Dublin-born novelist Joseph O'Connor has hit the jackpot with his epics of the Irish diaspora in the 19th century. Redemption Falls is a sequel to the bestselling Star of the Sea and opens in Louisiana in 1865. The Civil War is drawing to its close, but for Eliza Duane Mooney, setting off on foot through the devastated landscape, a voyage of discovery is only just beginning. The subsequent narrative sprawls all over the place, but it is hard to resist its nimble prose and vivid characters. SC Self Help by Edward Docx Overlong and over-hyped, Self Help (longlisted for the Booker Prize last year) is one of those back-to-front novels where the skeletons of the past are gradually unearthed. A dying woman in St Petersburg summons her son and daughter to her bedside. They arrive too late but, after her death, must confront the malign legacy of their father, a philanderer now living in Paris. There are a few good moments, and some fine vignettes of St Petersburg, but Edward Docx does not make the most of promising material. SC | 
