Rachel Cooke
The Guardian
United Kingdom
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Past articles by Rachel:
The Coco Chanel exhibition had me weak at the knees, but the woman remains an enigma
The fashion designer celebrated at the V&A had an extraordinary talent for reinvention and even those who knew her struggled to convey her essence → Read More
Absolutely & Forever by Rose Tremain review – high style and bittersweet yearning
Set in the England of the 1950s and 60s, this short but brilliant novel about life and thwarted love is nothing short of magical → Read More
Andrew Scott: ‘We need a bit more of people not liking things’
Fleabag’s hot priest is about to take on his most liberating role yet: a one-man show of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya in which he will play all nine roles, male and female → Read More
Bernadette Peters: ‘Sondheim’s music is about the big, important things’
The American film and stage actor, renowned for her roles in the composer’s musicals, on making her West End debut in a celebration of his music → Read More
Taking the knees in Jerusalem
My mother’s contribution to perhaps the most overlooked British folk art of the past 90 years: the canvas-work church kneeler → Read More
Work-Life Balance by Aisha Franz review – richly comic takedown of the wellness industry
This well-aimed tale of a self-obsessed therapist and her angsty clients nails the neuroticism of the digital age and its snake-oil remedies → Read More
Lock up your bunnies: Fatal Attraction is back, and still stuck in the 80s
Rachel Cooke was looking forward to a TV reboot of the controversial 1987 thriller – only to find that, despite being made by a team of women, its attitudes have barely changed → Read More
A ‘handmade’ egg sandwich with 32 ingredients? Maybe it is time to change how we eat
The description of ultra-processed food in Henry Dimbleby’s book, Ravenous, is startling and chastening → Read More
‘We’re in a golden age for microbes’: the man rewriting history from the perspective of germs
Forget ‘great men’ – infection and disease are the really important forces in the development of humankind, believes public health specialist Jonathan Kennedy → Read More
I felt wheelie awful in Amsterdam; no wonder they want British tourists to stay away
Hard-drinking weekenders, Airbnb and noisy suitcases are no longer welcome in cities such as Venice and Marseille → Read More
Spa by Erik Svetoft review – how the other half dies
An oozing discharge in the corridors of a five-star hotel symbolises the corruption of the rich in the Swedish artist’s mordant gothic debut → Read More
Lives of the Wives by Carmela Ciuraru review – literary couples a breed apart
The author raids memoirs and letters but adds little of her own in this juicy group biography of writers’ marriages → Read More
Andrea Leadsom: ‘I was determined to become prime minister and deliver Brexit myself’
The Conservative MP and arch-leaver discusses the upside of life outside the EU, serpents in Westminster and the interview that sank her leadership bid → Read More
Don’t despair at a shortage of tomatoes – it gives us a chance to treasure the turnip
They might not be exotic or imported, but there’s no shortage of recipes for this unsung hero of the vegetable world → Read More
We’re All Just Fine by Ana Penyas review – home truths in a tyrant’s reign
Rich in detail, this award-winning debut explores the evolution of Spanish womanhood through drudgery, dictatorship and liberation → Read More
Hags by Victoria Smith review – welcome to the age of rage
This rigorous defence of middle-aged women, who are ignored and vilified, is an often painful read and a future classic → Read More
Time to Think by Hannah Barnes review – what went wrong at Gids?
The BBC Newsnight reporter’s investigation into the Tavistock’s gender identity clinic for children makes disturbing reading → Read More
Maus Now: Selected Writing, edited by Hillary Chute review – the Maus that made history
While Philip Pullman and Adam Gopnik illuminate Art Spiegelman’s towering graphic novel, few others in this collection succeed in capturing its spark and sophistication → Read More
A lowly sergeant, but Happy Valley’s Catherine Cawood is top of the cops
Sarah Lancashire’s portrayal in the hit series is 10 times tougher than her TV predecessors → Read More
Why Don’t You Love Me? by Paul B Rainey – a marriage made in hell veers into the unknown
In this clever and savage tale about a horribly miserable couple, redemption comes with a sci-fi twist → Read More