Scrubs up nicely
Lucy Ellmann finds out in Katherine Ashenburg's Clean how we learnt to wash and go
My private hell
She was a young, successful writer with a flourishing career and a new baby. So why did she come within moments of throwing herself from a train? Stephanie Merritt describes the crisis that almost claimed her life
The getting of wisdom
At 35, Lorna Martin had come to a crisis in her life. Turning to therapy for some answers, she recorded her progress in a weekly column that is now being published as a book. But, wonders Zoe Williams, is she really any the wiser?
Second-hand spooks
Do we need another look at Victorian spiritualism, asks Kathryn Hughes, after reading Servants of the Supernatural by Antonio Melechi
Disturbed lives
Salley Vickers applauds an acute and sobering account of the treatment of mentally ill women in Mad, Bad and Sad: A History of Women and the Mind Doctors from 1800 to the Present by Lisa Appignanesi
Maybe baby
Peggy Orenstein's Waiting For Daisy captures the pain of infertility, says Anushka Asthana
What’s up doc?
Max Pemberton's Trust Me, I'm a (Junior) Doctor jokingly reveals the reality of working in the NHS, says Katie Toms
A little of what you fancy …
... is the only sensible response to the craziness surrounding our diet. Kathryn Hughes puts Michael Pollan's In Defence of Food and Bee Wilson's Swindled on the menu
Duck tripe and chicken blood tortillas
Stefan Gates' In the Danger Zone and Chitrita Banerji's Eating India find it difficult to keep wider issues out of the kitchen, says Tom Jaine
When the only way is down
Sally Brampton's Shoot the Damn Dog is a lucid account of mental illness and attempted suicide