Shane McCrae was kidnapped by his grandparents at three years old. Photograph: Benedict Evans/The GuardianShane McCrae was kidnapped by his grandparents at three years old. Photograph: Benedict Evans/The GuardianThe ObserverAutobiography and memoirReviewThe American poet’s visceral account of being snatched as a child by his white supremacist grandparents demonstrates the shaky and slippery nature of memory “What is remembering if not giving each bloody knife a body?”, writes American poet and Guggenheim fellow Shane McCrae.

MusicObituaryCarl Smith obituaryPopular country singer in the early 1950s Carl Smith, who has died aged 82, was a key figure in the changing sound of country music in the early 1950s. Like Eddy Arnold, he purveyed a softer, warmer vocal manner, while keeping the music muscular by placing it in the bluesy small-group setting of Texan honky-tonk. But as well as an ingratiating ballad style, he had an aptitude for up-tempo rockabilly.

An engineering manager was seriously injured after plunging through a factory skylight at a Milton Keynes plastics manufacturer, a court heard. Barry Brice, 44, of Wavendon Gate in the town was measuring a damaged skylight at Alpla UK Ltd’s premises in Lasborough Road, Kingston, when it gave way and he fell seven and a half metres onto the floor of a tool room below. The incident happened on 16 November 2009 when Mr Brice climbed onto the roof alone to take measurements of the skylight, which had been damaged in an earlier incident.

How far with Catherine go to get what she wants? Season 1 of Hulu’s irreverent, ahistorical dramedy The Great ended with Elle Fanning’s character finally staging the coup against her husband she’d spent almost all season planning. But her attempt to topple Emperor Peter (Nicholas Hoult) and take his throne didn’t go exactly as she planned. Becoming the leader of all of Russia would involve some hard personal sacrifice, she learned in the finale.

The full cast of BBC's Life revealed. Picture: BBC If you’re looking for a new TV drama to get stuck into, BBC’s Life could be just the series. From Doctor Foster writer Mike Bartlett, the story kicks off telling four separate stories of four characters in a block of flats in Manchester. The synopsis reads: “As each of the four stories unfold and intertwine in surprising ways, they tell a larger story about what happens when we step out of our personal space and take a closer look into other people’s lives.