Pretty Honest has been flying off the shelves since it published in September. Challenging the notion that an interest in make-up and skincare = vacuity and frippery, it is a big dose of beauty wisdom wrapped up in dusky pink. Covering everything from teenage skin to mature beauty, botox to bridal make-up, sickness to good health, it’s a work that is part instruction manual, part love letter to makeup – in a writing style that combines beauty editor, feminist and painfully funny best friend.
The new novel from Booker Prize-shortlisted Philip Hensher is his most ambitious and daring novel yet.