With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Mark Ford on Thomas Hardy's unlikely London romance; Hirsh Sawhney on Aravind Adiga's captivating new novel and his messy portrait of India; to tie in with a special run of features on the Middle East, TLS editors Robert Irwin and Toby Lichtig discuss the challenges, historical and present, facing the region; and finally, Mark Ford reads Thomas Hardy's poem "Coming Up Oxford Street: Evening", from 1872.
