This week, memoirs by two leading writers claimed praise from the nationals while an elegy to Britain’s traditional crafts and two novels also made an impact.

In Gabriel García Márquez head, one sentence had lit up and would not let him go — a line that, when expanded, became One Hundred Years of Solitude.

There are stories that pass the time, and then there are stories that heal the soul. These 8 books belong to the latter. They radiate quiet wisdom, consolation, and a kind of divine intimacy. Their ...