Best books… Nicholas Coleridge
The chairman of Condé Nast Britain, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, chooses his five favourite books. His memoir, The Glossy Years, is out now, published by Fig Tree at £25
The Two Mrs Grenvilles
by Dominick Dunne, 1985 (Ballantine $17.99). I savour every paragraph, every word of this brilliant social novel. Navy ensign Billy Grenville, heir to a vast New York fortune, spots a showgirl on the dance floor and it is love at first sight, much to the horror of the family matriarch. They marry, but it all ends very, very badly.
The Way We Live Now
by Anthony Trollope, 1875 (Wordsworth £2.50). The story of Augustus Melmotte, mysterious financier and swindler, who mesmerises society with his wealth, is a familiar one. I can think of at least four contemporary Melmottes on both sides of the Atlantic. The story is so believable, so subtle, that it should be taught in every school, as a warning about immoral billionaires with vast egos and dodgy pasts.
Nicholas Carey
by Ronald Welch, 1963 (Slightly Foxed £19). At prep school, the Carey series of novels were my favourite books. They follow a Welsh-based aristocratic family from the Crusades through WWII, with a different Carey taking the lead in each one. This one involves the Crimean War, and teaches you so much.
The Great Railway Bazaar
by Paul Theroux, 1975 (Penguin £10.99). This book is single-handedly responsible for my love of travel adventures. His trip from London to India, on to Japan and back again on the Trans-Siberian Express is so vivid, so psychologically satisfying, so observant, that it makes you long to run away.
Lie Down with Lions
by Ken Follett, 1985 (Pan £8.99). Follett is an overlooked author, if you can use the word “overlooked” for a man who sells novels in the tens of millions. It is a grave injustice. This is one of his earlier ones, set in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion. His descriptive powers are those of a top travel writer, his thriller writing technique right up there with Forsyth at his best. And he also gives you dirty sex.