This weeks Literary Ledger 26 to 3 October 2025

Welcome to your weekly roundup of all things books! We’re keeping it short and sweet, just five stories to keep you in the loop without overwhelming you. Think of this as your quick fix for staying connected to the book world.

I) A Library in Every School: A Step Towards Change

On 29th September, during the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, pledged to ensure that every primary school will have a library by the end of this parliament (2029).

This is wonderful news for the world of publishing and literature as a whole, made possible by Penguin Random House in partnership with the National Literacy Trust. To mark both their 90th birthday and the campaign for libraries in schools, PRH hosted a reception at Number 11 Downing Street.

This announcement is the result of years of campaigning by publishing and literacy organisations. The Libraries for Primaries Campaign, which began in 2018, has highlighted a shocking reality: one in seven primary schools across the UK have no library space, a figure that rises to one in four in more disadvantaged areas. That’s why I’m so glad to see change finally happening. Children are the future, and books offer one of the quietest forms of liberation and freedom. They shape us into better, more open-minded individuals.

II) Meet the 2025 Baillie Gifford Prize Finalists

Six authors have been shortlisted for the 2025 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction (founded in 1999), which carries a £50,000 award. With the motto ‘All the best stories are true’, the prize celebrates works of current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography, and the arts. It remains one of the most prestigious non-fiction prizes. The winner will be announced on 4th November at the award ceremony.

Here are the shortlisted titles, their authors, and a short synopsis:

Captives and Companions: A History of Slavery and the Slave Trade in the Islamic World by Justin Marozzi - Traces the complex history of slavery in the Islamic world, from medieval concubines and slave soldiers to modern abuses by Daesh and ongoing hereditary slavery. Marozzi illuminates the human experiences and global networks behind centuries of enslavement across Africa, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean.

Electric Spark: The Enigma of Muriel Spark by Frances Wilson - Electric Spark uncovers Muriel Spark’s enigmatic early life and shows how these experiences became the raw material for her distinctive, puzzle-like fiction. Wilson seeks to decode the riddles Spark left behind in her life and work.

How to End a Story: Collected Diaries by Helen Garner - Helen Garner’s diaries, collected for the first time, offer an intimate, candid look at her life over two decades, while showcasing her sharp, observant voice. 

Lone Wolf: Walking the Faultlines of Europe by Adam Weymouth - Lone Wolf follows the journey of Slavc, a wolf whose migration helped reintroduce wolves to northern Italy, while exploring the region’s wider struggles with rewilding, culture, climate change, and migration. Weymouth offers a vivid portrait of a landscape in transformation.

The Boundless Deep: Young Tennyson, Science and the Crisis of Belief  by Richard Holmes - Amid rapid 19th-century scientific discoveries, Tennyson grappled with evolution, cosmic vastness, and social change, channeling these anxieties into poetry that defined his generation. Holmes’ biography explores how his imagination and engagement with these ideas made him a timeless literary voice.

The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s by Jason Burke - Radical extremists carried out high-profile hijackings and attacks to challenge Western powers. Jason Burke chronicles their violent exploits and the rise of a more lethal, religiously driven extremism that followed.

III) Scarlett Press: S&S's New Imprint for the Next Generation of Romance

Simon & Schuster in the UK and US have joined forces to launch Scarlet Press, a new imprint dedicated to romance-forward New Adult titles. The first five books are set to publish next spring, with Rachel Denwood leading the UK side alongside Yasmin Morrissey, and Justin Chanda and Sarah McCabe heading things up in the US. The imprint is described as focusing on ‘commercial, fast-paced, romance-forward books across all genres’ for readers aged 18 and above.

It’ll be exciting to see what kinds of stories Scarlet Press brings out, I can already imagine it becoming a great source of recommendations. With such a strong publishing team behind it, they have every reason to hone their craft and build a robust programme that delivers some of the very best romances for dreamers and romantics alike.

IV) Taylor Swift Meets Shakespeare: ‘Hamlet’ and the Literary Nods in Her New Album

Okay, I know this one’s a bit of a stretch, is it really book news in any shape or form? Not exactly. But can you blame me? I was an English Lit student all through A-level and went on to study it at uni, so I suppose I’ve developed a knack for making the meaningless meaningful, or at least finding some tenuous way to link unrelated things together.

Taylor Swift dropped her new album today! Just in the nick of time for this blog, too.

After all the anticipation, it’s finally here, complete with a track titled ‘The Fate of Ophelia’. And that’s not the only Shakespearean nod, the album cover itself echoes Sir John Everett Millais’s famous painting Ophelia. The resemblance is striking, as you can see here: https://images.prestigeonline.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/08/15175343/Taylor-Swift-album-cover-ophelia-painting-social.jpg.

In Hamlet, Ophelia descends into madness and drowns after her father’s death and Hamlet’s spurn. Where love destroys Ophelia, Swift flips the script. In her song, she thanks a lover for saving her from a similar fate, whether that’s a nod to recent partners, or more broadly, from the weight of all the ‘Hamlets’ she’s ever loved: ‘No longer drowning and deceived / All because you came for me.’ Like Shakespeare’s play, the theme of madness and loss is central, but Swift turns it inward, likening her struggles to a personal purgatory until love rescues her.

Ophelia’s life is defined by the men around her, which ultimately leads to her death, she’s constrained by their expectations and lacks autonomy. She struggles under the pressure of living up to the ideal of the ‘perfect woman,’ crumbling when she feels she’s not enough. Hamlet’s scorn, think the famous ‘Get thee to a nunnery’, reflects these expectations.

In Swift’s song, this theme seems to run deeper than simply being saved from a loveless relationship. It’s about finding someone who helps her navigate the pressures of fame and the impossible standards she’s expected to meet, offering support and relief.

It’s nothing groundbreaking, and not exactly newsworthy, but the album release certainly was. Whether you love her or hate her, you’ve got to admit that. I just thought it was a fun little way to connect pop culture back to literature, even if in a small way.

V) The Trailer’s Here: What to Expect from Del Toro’s Frankenstein

The official Frankenstein trailer dropped two days ago, so obviously we need to talk about it. Guillermo del Toro has a pretty impressive track record, his most recent, Pinocchio, was brilliant and got the praise it deserved. Funny thing is, that story is also about taking something dead and trying to make it human, or at least human-ish, though not quite as dark as Frankenstein.

From the trailer, the visuals look incredible. But what I’m really buzzing about is that del Toro seems to give the creature his own perspective. That’s straight from Mary Shelley’s book, Chapters 11–16 are narrated by the monster, and so many adaptations skip this. Seeing del Toro stick to the source material gave me hope for a faithful and compelling retelling.

But then, we start to veer off again, like Victor supposedly being abused by his cruel disciplinarian father. That’s not accurate at all. In Shelley’s book, Victor loves his family, father, brothers, wife, it’s a core theme of the gothic horror.

And honestly, I have two major casting frustrations. First, Jacob Elordi as the Monster? I’m not sure why. I wasn’t convinced by him in Saltburn, and the thought of another English accent attempt… ugh. Second, Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein? He’s 46. Victor is at university when he creates the Monster, that’s key! Everything in Shelley’s novel is deliberate, it’s MARY SHELLEY. Victor is supposed to be bold, cocky, obsessive, curious, thinking he can create life because, well… he’s young and a child prodigy genius. A 22-year-old playing God? That’s sick. 

Plus, his pampered, privileged upbringing contrasts perfectly with the Creature’s total isolation. A young, handsome, wealthy boy against a patchwork Monster made of dead bits. The image could not be more stark.

But… I’ll give it a go.