FICTION HARDBACKS
Last
weekWeeks in
top 101
The Murders at Fleat House
Lucinda Riley
(Macmillan £20)
The sudden death of a pupil at a boarding
school has the police suspecting foul play
(6,140)—12
Lessons in Chemistry/Bonnie Garmus
(Doubleday £14.99) In 1960s America, a chemist
becomes the star of a popular TV cooking show (5,865)183
With a Mind to Kill/Anthony Horowitz
(Cape £20) A brainwashed James Bond is in custody,
accused of assassinating M, the head of MI6 (5,765)—14
Lion/Conn Iggulden
(M Joseph £20) The first instalment in a new series
set on the battlefields of ancient Greece (3,030)—15
You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty/Akwaeke
Emezi (Faber £14.99) A young woman seeks the joy of
new relationships while healing from past grief (3,000)—16
Clive Cussler’s Dark Vector/Graham Brown
(M Joseph £20) Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala are
plunged into the middle of a cyber war (2,465)—17
Thrown/Sara Cox
(Coronet £14.99) Four women bond at a new pottery
class held at a local community centre (1,715)238
Young Mungo/Douglas Stuart
(Picador £16.99) The relationship between two teenage
boys is threatened by the sectarian divide (1,645)579
Bad Actors/Mick Herron
(Baskerville £18.99) A key member of a government
think tank disappears without a trace (1,440)3310
King/Ben Kane
(Orion £14.99) Richard the Lionheart wages war
against archenemy Philippe Capet of France (1,435)—1FICTION PAPERBACKS
Last
weekWeeks
in top 101
The Man Who Died Twice
Richard Osman
(Penguin £8.99)
Stolen diamonds worth £20 million cause
chaos for the Thursday Murder Club
(32,165)132
How to Kill Your Family/Bella Mackie
(Borough £8.99) A woman avenges her mother’s death
by bumping off her father and his family (12,545)373
It Ends With Us/Colleen Hoover
(Simon & Schuster £8.99) A first love’s reappearance
threatens a woman’s present relationship (10,360)4394
The Dark Hours/Michael Connelly
(Orion £8.99) Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch
investigate a murder at a street party (9,745)235
The Thursday Murder Club/Richard Osman
(Penguin £8.99) Four friends in a retirement village
team up to solve a murder on their doorstep (9,655)6546
Sorrow and Bliss/Meg Mason
(Weidenfeld £8.99) A troubled woman struggles with
the feeling that her life is too broken to fix (9,330)557
Over My Dead Body/Jeffrey Archer
(HarperCollins £8.99) William Warwick is on hand
when a death occurs aboard a cruise liner (9,065)—18
Beach House Summer/Sarah Morgan
(HQ £8.99) When a famous chef dies in an accident,
his ex-wife forms an unlikely friendship (8,110)—19
Silverview/John le Carré
(Penguin £8.99) A bookshop owner in a seaside town
receives a proposal from an enigmatic visitor (7,680)7510
Better Off Dead/Lee Child and Andrew Child
(Penguin £8.99) Jack Reacher comes to the aid of an
army veteran searching for her twin brother (7,630)99CHILDREN'S
1
Last
week
1
Weeks
in top 10
5The World’s Worst Pets
David Walliams and
Adam Stower
(HarperCollins £14.99)
Stories about hilarious
and horrendous pets
(15,120)2
Last
week
2
Weeks
in top 10
6Heartstopper:
Volume One
Alice Oseman
(Hodder £10.99)
Two boys, Nick and
Charlie, become friends
at school (14,780)3
Last
week
3
Weeks
in top 10
6Heartstopper:
Volume Two
Alice Oseman
(Hodder £10.99)
Nick begins to develop
feelings for Charlie
(9,120)4
Last
week
4
Weeks
in top 10
6Heartstopper:
Volume Three
Alice Oseman
(Hodder £10.99)
Nick and Charlie navigate
relationship challenges
(7,645)5
Last
week
6
Weeks
in top 10
5Nick and Charlie
Alice Oseman
(HarperCollins £8.99)
Nick and Charlie question
whether absence makes
the heart grow fonder
(7,025)anxious attachment style”
and “What does an Anxious/
Avoidant relationship look
like?” Attachment is no longer
a dusty textbook theory;
it has gone mainstream.
Why? Baum argues that
insecure attachments are on
the rise — a 2014 study found
that almost 60 per cent of
American college students
were insecurely attached —
and that this is due to the
increasing stress of daily life.
What’s more, she explains,
even though they are the
worst combination, anxious
and avoidant people are very
often drawn to each other
romantically. “We’re attracted
to behaviours that confirm
our subconscious belief that
this is what love feels like.”
This is much more painful
for the anxious partner who is
constantly pushed away, and
Baum’s book is directed
specifically at them. But after
her lucid, helpful explanations
of how these dynamics work,
she switches gears and
outlines a “journey into the
vast, unknown territory of
your inner world” designed to
heal the wounds of anxious
attachment. We cover
therapy, inner work andboundary-setting, and whole
chapters are devoted to
multistep meditations, with
online audio guides to match.
Being aware of the reasons
behind our behaviour is useful.
But will meditation fix it all?
Baum’s solutions are notably
different to those suggested
by Amir Levine and Rachel
Heller in their hugely popular
2019 book Attached. They told
anxious people to avoid
avoidants at all costs, and
provided tips for sniffing out
avoidants within a few dates.
That’s a more pessimistic
solution than Baum’s belief in
the potential for change, but it
also seems more realistic, and
might better protect anxious
people in the long run.
But then this is personal for
Baum, who is anxious herself.
She starts off by “using myrelationship with my ex-
husband as an example” of a
bad anxious/avoidant
marriage and concludes the
book by revealing that her
new partner is also avoidant.
“Sometimes,” she says, “the
pain feels so intense, my Little
Me wants to pack a suitcase
and leave.” (Little Me is her
term for our damaged inner
child.) They work through it
together, but is this really an
ideal solution? Would anxious
readers want this outcome for
themselves?
Perhaps it was Baum’s
chirpy, almost cheesy prose
with its capitalised jargon that
turned me off — “This is when
your Inner Nurturer can invite
your Little Me into your Safe
Place.” But I think there is a
deeper issue with the book: its
emphasis on telling anxious
people to change when their
desire for human connection
is entirely natural. Why is
wanting commitment seen as
“needy” or embarrassing?
That’s a wider question that
won’t be solved by one book,
but if you think you might be
anxiously attached, read
Levine and Heller first. If you
still want meditations, Baum
has them in spades. cTikTok videos
on the subject
have over
300m views
hot-button topic among Gen
Z-ers and millennials battling
their way through the dating
scene. TikTok videos with the
#AnxiousAttachment hashtag
have been viewed well over
300 million times. The
most-viewed videos have titles
such as “Top triggers for
PAPERBACK
OF THE WEEKThe Anglo-Saxons
by Marc Morris
Penguin £10.99Morris guides
us through
the tricksy
Anglo-Saxon
world in this
clever, lively
book. Each
chapter
focuses on a known person
or group and the themes
that slot into the narrative.
Around these tales fit
intriguing glimpses into
the everyday lives of the
people — some dwelling in
pit houses, a few in great
halls like those described
in Beowulf. Dan JonesST DIGITAL
FOR MORE PICKS, AND OUR
CHOICE OF THE BEST OF 2022,
GO TO THESUNDAYTIMES.
CO.UK/CULTUREAnxious
You’re master of
sending multiple
texts, and want
to say “I love you”
on the third date.Avoidant
You take hours to
answer texts, and
they can’t keep
a toothbrush at
your place.Secure
You like to
commit, but
aren’t stressed
about your
boyfriend’s
lads’ holiday.WHAT’S
YOUR TYPE?5 June 2022 23