Cover Stories: Clinton's memoirs; Chekhov's niece and a secret; the Iris Murdoch Archive

At last, with his wife's book already in both hardback and paperback, Bill Clinton is poised to publish his memoirs.

At last, with his wife's book already in both hardback and paperback, Bill Clinton is poised to publish his memoirs. My Life, a somewhat unimaginative title from an imaginative man, is due for worldwide publication in late June - a date not necessarily welcome to the Democrats, who will be preparing for their Boston Convention in July. Clinton chatted about his work-in-progress when he visited Britain with Hillary last summer, saying he'd read all the presidential memoirs and that Grant's was the best, and revealing that he had "kept everything". Now, his US editor, the celebrated Sonny Mehta of Knopf, has described the book as "riveting personal drama as well as a fascinating look at the American political arena". He calls it "one of the most revealing and remarkable memoirs I have ever had the honour of publishing". Clinton will head for the UK to promote it when he has finished criss-crossing the US.

* Aside from fronting the campaign to preserve printed prices on books, historian Antony Beevor has maintained a relatively low profile since Berlin: the downfall. But he has been rather busy and the result, The Mystery of Olga Chekhova, appears from Viking next week. It tells the amazing story of the niece of the dramatist, who left Russia for Berlin and carved out a screen career. Adolf Hitler was soon among her biggest fans, and she moved in Nazi high society while all the time retaining a secret that Beevor now explores.

* The Iris Murdoch Archive, more than 1,000 books (many annotated) on which the author drew, has been bought by Kingston University. It had seemed likely that the library would leave for America, but an appeal by the Iris Murdoch Society secured donations of £40,000. With £20,000 more from the Museum Libraries and Archives Fund, Kingston was able to make a realistic bid - the asking price was £150,000.