Guardian: two new reads
The Guardian reviewed Greg Doran’s Walking Shadow as a book shaped by love and loss following the death of Antony Sher (theguardian.com). The same issue reviewed Amitav Ghosh’s Ghost‑Eye, describing it as a climate‑crisis novel driven by a reincarnation mystery but mixed on the prose (theguardian.com).
The Guardian’s books pages paired two very different April 13 reviews: one praised Greg Doran’s grief memoir, the other gave Amitav Ghosh’s new novel a mixed notice. (theguardian.com 1) (theguardian.com 2) Michael Billington wrote that *Walking Shadow* is “two books in one”: Antony Sher’s final diaries from the six months before his death in December 2021, and Doran’s account of traveling to see Shakespeare’s First Folio copies after Sher died. Bloomsbury lists the hardback at 400 pages and a April 23, 2026 publication date in the United Kingdom. (ourdailyread.com) (bloomsbury.com) Bloomsbury and the Royal Shakespeare Company shop both describe the book as a memoir, travelogue and investigation written after Doran stepped down as artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company following Sher’s death from cancer. The publisher says Doran’s Folio journey was set off during the 400th anniversary year of Shakespeare’s First Folio. (bloomsbury.com) (shop.rsc.org.uk) The second review, by Maya Jaggi, said *Ghost-Eye* uses a reincarnation mystery to tell a climate-crisis story that moves between late-1960s Calcutta and present-day Brooklyn. Macmillan’s United States listing gives the novel a June 16, 2026 release date and says the plot follows Dinu as memories surface during a search for Varsha. (theguardian.com) (us.macmillan.com) HarperCollins India said in December 2025 that *Ghost-Eye* would launch first in India, with United Kingdom and United States editions to follow in 2026. Barnes & Noble also lists the United States hardcover for June 16, 2026. (harpercollins.co.in) (barnesandnoble.com) Taken together, the two reviews show the range of books The Guardian put before readers on April 13: a Shakespeare-centered memoir built from bereavement, and an ecological novel built around memory, rebirth and migration. One review stressed emotional candor and structure; the other credited ambition but said the prose did not fully carry it. (theguardian.com 1) (theguardian.com 2) Doran and Sher had been partners for 35 years, according to retailer and publisher descriptions of *Walking Shadow*. Ghosh, meanwhile, arrives with a long record of fiction about history, migration and environment, including the Ibis trilogy cited in publisher material for *Ghost-Eye*. (bloomsbury.com) (books.google.com) For readers scanning the spring books season, the practical upshot is simple: Doran’s book is due in Britain on April 23, 2026, and Ghosh’s United States edition follows on June 16, 2026. The Guardian’s verdicts suggest one is being received as a moving personal document, while the other is entering the conversation as an ambitious novel with divided reactions on style. (waterstones.com) (barnesandnoble.com)
