“Keeping women, like keeping horses, is one of the many things the rich can do that other people can’t,” writes Mary-Kay Wilmers. It’s the opening sentence from her review of a book on “kept women”; the wording exemplifies her wit, and the topic is indicative of her pursuit of larger insights through book reviews. Human Relations and Other Difficulties is culled from her work as editor of the prestigious London Review of Books. The tone is gently critical, tolerant of many foibles. She has the ability to stir truth from its slumber while aware that ultimate truths—about authors, their motivations and their subjects—will always be hard to pin down. Many books reviewed in Human Relations will be unfamiliar to American readers, but anyone who recalls Patti Hearst should read her brilliant review of the celebrity revolutionary’s memoir.
