Where dirty secrets hide

If you read one book this week

Shotgun Lovesongs, by Nickolas Butler (Picador) R240

Big-Hearted debut novel of life in rural Smalltown USA, as four male friends reunite for a wedding. There's Lee, who found fame as a musician; Ronnie, an alcoholic rodeo star; Kip, the wealthy property developer; and Henry, a farmer who married his high school sweetheart, Beth.

Amid the happiness and celebration, old rivalries emerge and a deeply buried secret threatens the group's friendships. Butler's little gem was inspired in part by the life of his high school friend, Justin Vernon (better known as the Grammy award winner Bon Iver).

The issue

Heard about Britain's 30-year rule? Basically, it is this: if any member of the establishment is involved in a scandal, the truth will only emerge about three decades later - regardless of how many inquiries are held in the interim - and thus no one responsible need suffer the consequences. And so it is with what British journalist Rod Liddle has referred to as the "terrible paedogeddon" that gripped the UK about 30 years ago when entertainers were "fiddling about up and down the country, with their cunningly coded messages to children about having an 'extra leg' and sinister injunctions to restrain kangaroos".

The sad truth of the horrifying In Plain Sight: The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile (Quercus), by Dan Davis, is that, as its title suggests, though what this "broadcasting celebrity" was up to was an open secret no one did a thing about it.

Some did try. Staff at hospitals at which Savile raped children tried to alert the authorities only to be told to shut up or they'd be in trouble; Savile, after, all was a man who'd raised millions of pounds for charity and was greatly admired by Margaret Thatcher, who got him his knighthood.

When he died, aged 84, in 2011, BBC director-general Mark Thompson declared: "We shall miss him greatly", seemingly oblivious of the rumours about Savile that had been circulating for years. Prince Charles, who regarded him as a friend and mentor, was "saddened"; even comedian Ricky Gervais tweeted his admiration for "a proper British eccentric".

But, within months, Savile was the most reviled man in Britain - a monster who'd embarked on a life-long spree of sex crimes. But it's not the sheer number of allegations that is so chilling - so far 450 have been detailed, and yet more are to be collated - but the fact that so many people let him get away with his behaviour. InPlain Sight makes for very uncomfortable reading.

The bottom line

"I didn't fall in love with native Australian vegetation until I was middle-aged, and then I fell hard, as middle-aged women do. I am glad to be the forest's fool." - White Beech: The Rainforest Years, by Germaine Greer (Bloomsbury).