Autobiography: writers Books

Book Synopsis'Peerless.' Daily Telegraph 'Sprinkled with magic.' Observer'Full of mischief, romance, fun and kindness.' The TimesSoldier, journalist, historian, author of forty books, Jan Morris led an extraordinary life, witnessing such seminal moments as the first ascent of Everest, the Suez Canal Crisis, the Eichmann Trial, the Cuban Revolution and so much more.From reflections on identity and nations to the importance of good marmalade, Allegorizings is the final despatch from one of the greatest chroniclers of the twentieth century.'A precious few [writers] report with wisdom, kindness and intelligence from the end to which we shall all come - travel of a different kind. This is such a book.' Sarah Moss, New York Times'She was one of the most extraordinary people I ever had the luck to meet. Please read her.' Robert MacFarlane

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe third son of a coalminer, David Storey takes us from his tough upbringing in Wakefield, to being 'sold' to Leeds Rugby League Club, to his escape to the Slade School of Art and his life in post-war London. He describes shocking scenes in the seventeen deprived East End schools in which he taught. He documents the childhood death of his eldest brother, addressing much of the memoir to him and exploring how this relates to his own sometimes paralysing depression, which haunted most of his life. And yet, a prolific and celebrated writer, he recalls heady spells in New York, close relationships in the theatre with Joycelyn Herbert, Ralph Richardson and Lindsay Anderson, early success with This Sporting Life, and winning the Booker Prize for his novel Saville.

Read more less

Book SynopsisCritically acclaimed, this unique and compelling personal biography uncovers the hidden love triangle between novelist Elizabeth Bowen and the author's grandparents.Trade Review‘It’s very epistolary and very beautiful, particularly with Bowen’s letters which are astonishingly beautiful, complex and intense. It’s like reading one of Elizabeth Bowen’s great novels' RSL Christopher Bland Prize'A fascinating and moving portrait of love, loyalty and infidelity’ Sarah Waters'Marvellous, gently elegiac, beautifully written, and fascinating' John Banville, New York Review of Books'Bowen fans will be in her debt' Peter J. Conradi'As literary discoveries go, it’s a big one' Sunday Times'An essay of rare sensitivity and intelligent reflection' Telegraph'Fascinating and poetic' Irish Times‘A judicious moment-by-moment account of these complicated characters' Spectator

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis superb account of life on the Great Blasket Island off the west coast of Kerry, written as the nineteenth century draws to its close and the dawn of a new era trespasses on the lives of its small community, is both a shocking and captivating read.Here is the first complete translation of Tomás O'Crohan's autobiography An tOileánach, first published in 1929. This edition is based on Professor Seán Ó Coileáin's definitive 2002 Irish language edition. It contains many passages omitted from the previous English language translation by Robin Flower from the 1930s, some of which were thought too earthy for the times.Tomás O'Crohan, a fisherman who, at around the age of forty, has taught himself to read and write in his own native tongue, depicts in unaffected, vivid language a very unforgiving landscape of human experience. The Islander reflects life as it was on the Blaskets, raw, real and extremely challenging.

Read more less

Book SynopsisNow in paperback, a wunderkammer of 99 delightfully odd facts about KafkaTrade Review"A Kafka bag full of surprises." -- Der Tagesspiegel"A playful new book from Reiner Stach, one that pulls together 99 facts and observations from the Czech author’s life, all with the purpose of clearing the brush of falsehoods about the man that linger in the public imagination." -- Jonathon Sturgeon - Flavorwire"If, like me, you are wary of delving into a three-volume account of the life of an ascetic and self-tormenting insurance lawyer, Stach has by some inexplicable thunderbolt of inspiration supplemented his enormous undertaking with a separate volume of biographical detritus, which he suggestively calls ‘counter-images’, titled Is that Kafka? 99 Finds." -- Morten Høi Jensen - LA Review of Books"Lucidly translated from the German by Kurt Beals, ingeniously designed, illustrated with photographs of Kafka and the people he knew, of places he visited and art he admired, and with facsimiles of newspaper articles, manuscripts, notes, and letters, Is That Kafka? is a handsome volume." -- Francine Prose - New York Review of Books"It is fitting that such a tricksy little maze of a book would bloom from the life of Kafka, whose work operates better in smaller spaces." -- Propeller"A mishmash of ephemera, curiosities and confessionals, the finds range from the banal to the deeply personal, yet collectively paint as engaging and illustrative a portrait of the artist as any I’ve read." -- Pasha Malla - The Globe and Mail"A beautiful display of unexpected wonders and curiosities, each one glittering with light from a source that will never be understood." -- Jeffrey Zuckerman - The New Republic"Reiner Stach has curated a collection of artifacts from the author’s life in his latest book, “Is that Kafka? 99 Finds.” The book, translated from the German by Kurt Beals, is a crowd-pleasing encore to Stach’s monumental three-volume biography of the writer. Along with minimal commentary, he submits ninety-nine numbered exhibition items—documents, photographs, objects, scribbles, and doodles—for our consideration. The result is a box of fancy Austro-Hungarian chocolates..." -- Avi Steinberg - The New Yorker"Each turn Stach makes adds nuance to his skillfully collaged portrait of Kafka." -- The Quarterly Conversation"“Is that Kafka?” indirectly contributes to an on going scholarly project, in Europe and America, to revisit many of the assumptions about the writer and his work, in effect, to move beyond the myths and clichés." -- Michael Dirda - The Washington Post"This collection, original and entertaining, is a masterful, exciting mix of diligent research and sophisticated literary gossip." -- Neues Deutschland

Read more less

Book Synopsis* A magnificent selection of Angela Carter 's journalistic and critical work, this shows her as one of the funniest and most perceptive critics of our age, a maverick who didn't miss a thing.Trade ReviewAngela Carter's journalism exists somewhere in the territory marked out by Roland Barthes of MYTHOLOGIES, middle-period Orwell, and early Tom Wolfe * Guardian *Her imagination was one of the most dazzling this century * Independent *With the rise of feminist theory, reclamation of folktale and world domination of magical realism, Carter became a canon in her own right * Guardian *Her writing occupies a unique place in twentieth century fiction, a place where myths around gender and sexuality are debunked and where not even the deepest darkest recesses of human imagination are off-limits -- Fay Godwin * British Library *

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisRudyard Kipling has been described as 'one of the few complete originals in English literature'. In his last work, Something of Myself, he reflects on his life and the basis of his art. Yet paradoxically this ostensibly autobiographical work (as an early critic pointed out) actually discloses very little of himself. Thomas Pinney's revealing edition now uncovers the extraordinary extent to which Kipling's account of his life fails to match the biographical facts, in a series of selections, omissions and distortions. Illustrated with Kipling's own satirical drawings from the manuscripts, and brought together with his other autobiographical writings (some previously unpublished), this fascinating book sheds new light on the intriguing relationship between Kipling's life and work.Table of ContentsIntroduction; Abbreviations and short titles; Something of Myself (1937): 1. A very young person; 2. The school before its time; 3. Seven years' hard; 4. The interregnum; 5. The committee of ways and means; 6. South Africa; 7. The very-own house; 8. Working-tools; 'Baa, Baa, Black Sheep' (1888); 'My first book' (1892); 'An English School' (1893); Kipling's diary, 1885; Notes; Glossary of Anglo-Indian words and phrases; Index.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe magnum opus of one of Europe''s greatest living writers.When telling one's life story to someone else one manufactures not chronicles but legends for oneself, Péter Nádas writes in his fiction masterpiece, Parallel Stories. Now, in his illuminating memoir, Shimmering Details, the renowned author investigates what it means to reconstruct a life without recourse to the techniques and embellishments of traditional storytelling.Taking his firmly embedded memoriesthe shimmering details that give this work its titleas his starting point, Nádas dissects them using a method inspired by Freudian dream interpretation. Sounds, scenes, smells, feelingsall are probed for details that might allow him to reconstruct what happened, and when and where. To avoid conscious or unconscious distortions, he deconstructs the stories of others, toomoving in concentric circles toward cause and effect, until their meaning and significance come to light.In Sh

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe magnum opus of one of Europe's greatest living writers.In Shimmering Details, Volume II, Péter Nádas delves deeper into his and his parents' lives during the tumultuous years spanning the rise of Hungarian communism in 1948 to the brutal suppression of the 1956 uprising. Zeroing in on this critical periodwhich overlapped with the formative years of his childhoodNádas concludes his monumental history of a family whose own experiences and fortunes are deeply intertwined with two centuries of Hungarian history.This second volume is a composite portrait of life lived at the nexus of world-historical forcesa jewel-like study that holds up different facets of the human experience to the light of Nádas's singular prose style. What emerges is a memoir of unusual insight and exceptional power. Hailed by Deborah Eisenberg as an extraordinary writer, Nádas has confirmed his place among Europe's greatest living authors.

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn exuberant, breathless sprint through London in the fifties, sixties and seventies It's bright, boisterous and extremely funny' Tatler''Clancy's scapegrace adventures are described with so much vitality and scabrous wit you feel as charmed as one of his serial conquests Marvellous'' Spectator''If you're searching for something to keep you on the edge of your sun lounger this summer, look no further'' Daily MailIf Fielding's Tom Jones were alive in postwar England he might be Clancy Sigal, the American author of this restlessly curious memoir.Honest and devious, faithful and lustful, a mass of plucky contradictions, Clancy first arrived in London in 1957. He was broke, homeless and, according to his FBI file, a dangerous subversive'. Over the next three decades, Clancy was to wander the soot-stained streets of London, devouring as much as life could offer him. From the birth of the CND and his affair with Lessing, to therapy with R. D. Laing Trade ReviewAn exuberant, breathless sprint through London in the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies… It’s bright, boisterous and extremely funny -- Francesca Carington * Tatler *[Clancy’s] scapegrace adventures are described with so much vitality and scabrous wit you feel as charmed as one of his serial conquests … Marvellous * Spectator *Sigal is a terrific storyteller and The London Lover is a terrific story. If you’re searching for something to keep you on the edge of your sun lounger this summer, look no further * Daily Mail *[Sigal] was a tummler of note, a real-life Zelig who found himself with astonishing frequency at the ringside of history, rubbing shoulders with many of its high rollers and low riders … The compulsion to be near the hot centre never left his restless heart * London Review of Books *Clancy Sigal lived twenty amazing lives and many of them are in this wonderful book -- Paul TherouxClancy Sigal’s memoir has all the storytelling verve, arresting candour and personal fearlessness that made his reputation over half a century ago -- David KynastonNo one tells his story better than he does himself in this highly entertaining book -- Lara Feigel

Read more less

Book SynopsisDylan Thomas''s classic account of his childhood Christmases, with full colour illustrations by Peter Bailey. The special gift edition for Thomas''s centenary now in paperback, with a beautiful gold-foiled cover.All the Christmases roll down toward the two-tongued sea, like a cold and headlong moon bundling down the sky that was our street...Dylan Thomas''s lyrical account of his childhood Christmases in a small Welsh town, featuring wolves, bears, hippos and Mrs Prothero''s cat, has become deservedly famous. This re-designed edition celebrates the centenary of his birth, and features full colour artwork from illustrator Peter Bailey. A beautiful gift edition of a classic work from one of Britain''s best-loved writers, this is the perfect Christmas present for young readers building their own childhood Christmas memories.Trade ReviewDylan Thomas's classic recollections of his own childhood, A Child's Christmas in Wales, has been republished with beautiful illustrations to mark the centenary of his birth. Perfect for reading aloud -- Sunday Express * Sunday Express *It is one of those books that a child will cling on to as they grow up and cherish for a lifetime to one day pass on to their own children. * THE BOOKBAG *It is one of those books that a child will cling on to as they grow up and cherish for a lifetime to one day pass on to their own children. * THE BOOKBAG *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA book for anyone who's ever fallen in love, tried to give up smoking, or consoled themselves that they'll never be quite as old as Mick Jagger.'funny, fearless and unflinchingly truthful' Times Literary Supplement - Books of the Years 2014'thought-provoking and inspiring' Independent on Sunday - Books of the Year 2014Trade Reviewfunny, fearless and unflinchingly truthful * Times Literary Supplement - Books of the Years 2014 *thought-provoking and inspiring * Independent on Sunday - Books of the Year 2014 *delightful... Behind her fluid style and droll wit emerges a woman who was in analysis five times a week for ten years, and who wondered what she was doing wrong when she read about single women enjoying their freedom with the company of supportive friends. A marvellously honest and entertaining compilation of her wonderful writing. * Daily Mail (Must Reads) *entertaining and moving, with appeal far beyond stalwart Cope fans... Life, Love and The Archers begins poignantly with hints of humour ... with the final section prompting several mortifying laugh-out-loud-on-public-transport incidents * Independent on Sunday *This anthology of prose from Britain's best-loved poet is wonderful, wistful and has some wisecracking one-liners * Tatler *This collection of her prose reveals a more serious Wendy Cope... What holds the book together is an unflinching honesty - about her depression, her finances, her love life. And, most of all, about poetry... Cope's truth-telling about her own life may disturb some admirers, but the occasional bleakness is warmed and illuminated by shafts of comic sunlight... Is it any wonder that so many of us love her? -- Francis Wheen * Mail on Sunday *A wonderful mix of poet Wendy Cope's prose, uncovered from the archives of The British Library. Find hidden gems such as extracts from an abandoned memoir and unpublished essays Billy Graham, smoking addiction and more. The book also comprises published prose, including a hilarious collection of TV reviews written for the Spectator in the 80s. Perfect to dip into over the holidays. * Mumsnet *In the end, as she says ruefully, "What will survive of us will be quoted out of context." But at least Wendy Cope will be quoted with delight * The Times *a sort of autobiography in fragments. She is as uncompromising here in her insistence on telling the truth; the honesty about her love life that marks her poetry finds a corresponding honesty about the practical business of life... It is remarkable how much Cope writes, often to comic effect, about time-killing pursuits which free us of anxiety - darts, sudoku, comfort eating, even, as the book's title suggests, listening to the Archers. * Times Literary Supplement *Her writing is always witty and insightful * Good Housekeeping - Best non-fiction book of the month, December 2014 *Poet Wendy Cope's first book of prose is like an extended conversation with an old friend. You find a huge amount in common, laugh every five minutes, enjoy a good moan and end up counting your blessings; not least among them the joyous fact that "we'll never be as old as Mick Jagger"... Irreverent, sensible, with a keen eye for the absurd and the pretentious, Cope is a boon companion * The Oldie *The no-nonsense honesty, sharp insight and humour of her poetry are evident in her prose too, as is the deceptive simplicity of her language: never overwrought, it has a thoughtful precision and unselfconscious elegance... The writer's life ... is portrayed with her signature blend of self-deprecation and wit * The Lady *It is, very often, wonderful... the latter parts of this book are joyous * The Tablet *A pleasure to read. The writing is crisp and to the point, eloquent but not flowery. Cope never patronises her readers: she trusts them to understand, to think about what she is saying: the pieces are thought-provoking and genuinely relevant in today's world. * Bookbag *[A] highly enjoyable collection . . . Cope fans and poetry lovers will find much to relish here, as will the general reader * The Good Book Guide *

Read more less

Book SynopsisSomething extraordinary happened to the UK literary scene in the 1980s. In the space of eight years, a generation of young British writers took the literary novel into new realms of setting, subject matter and style, challenging - and almost eclipsing - the Establishment writers of the 1950s. It began with two names - Martin Amis and Ian McEwan - and became a flood: Julian Barnes, William Boyd, Graham Swift, Salman Rushdie, Jeanette Winterson and Pat Barker among them. The rise of the newcomers coincided with astonishing changes in the way books were published - and the ways in which readers bought them and interacted with their authors. Suddenly, authors of serious fiction were like rock stars, fashionable, sexy creatures, shrewdly marketed and feted in public. The yearly bunfight of the Booker Prize became a matter of keen public interest. Tim Waterstone established the first of a chain of revolutionary bookshops. London publishing houses became the playground of exciting,Trade Review[An] elegant and elegiac memoir . . . the vigour of the book's attack and the hilarity of its anecdotage ... [shows he was] one of the great power-brokers of literary London . . . He was (and is) a good thing and I salute him. -- D. J. Taylor * Literary Review *Very funny . . . I laughed long at the set-piece lunch with [Martin] Amis * Observer *Walsh's enthusiasm for the writing of the 1980s is infectious * Irish Times *This is by no means just a book of literary history, fascinating though much of that is. Walsh also gives us plenty of terrific stories/gossip from those far-off days when newspaper offices were full of typewriter noise and cigarette smoke, and the choice of lunchtime drinks was definitely not restricted to still or sparkling. * Reader's Digest *Through it all, Walsh was there. First as an eager wannabe, then as a full-blooded insider. Any disappointment that his own efforts at a novel didn't prove a ticket to the dream-circus was quickly mitigated once he discovered his potential as a critic, commentator and general facilitator, swishing through the forest as interviewer, literary judge, pundit, speaker, partygoer par excellence . . . An immersive literary history . . . highly readable * Financial Times *Reading John Walsh's adventures in the literary world of the 1980s is like donning a pair of spectacles that bring blurred memories into sudden, sharp focus . . . Walsh describes people, events and places with such accuracy that he will transport oldies back to the era, allowing them to reappraise and appreciate it afresh. His memory - even if dependent on a diary - is prodigious, and his anecdotes polished till they sparkle. * The Oldie *An entertainingly gossipy memoir of the period . . . * The Week *Elegant and entertaining * Critic *[There's a] mixture of high and low, sacred and profane, running through Walsh's account of literary London in the 1980s that makes it such a joy * Sunday Times *Walsh's appetite for celebrity gossip is supplemented by a keen understanding of the business moves behind the invention of these literary stars, while his candour about his own shortcomings is endearing . . . [this] memoir is highly recommended * Irish Examiner *Walsh makes London seem like the place to have been. The stage was smaller; everything burned more brightly; more angels teemed on the head of a pin . . . One of the best things about Circus of Dreams is Walsh's memories not of the big beasts of literature, but of the smaller players - the editors and agents and clubmen and hacks and P.R. people, the various legends in their own lunchtimes. * New York Times *John Walsh's Circus of Dreams sent me reeling nostalgically back to the literary 1980s, where I may remain happily trapped for some time to come * HEAD TOPICS *Alternately fascinating and provocative -- John Sutherland * TLS *Circus of Dreams, the critic and journalist John Walsh's rambunctious and hugely entertaining history of the British literary scene in the 1980s, summons up something of the excitement, and the absurdity, of the period * Spectator World *

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhen you combine the deepest learning and the highest readability with the most plumptious story-telling, the result is A. N. Wilson Stephen Fry Known for his journalism, biographies and novels, A. N. Wilson turns a merciless searchlight on his own early life, his experience of sexual abuse, his catastrophic mistakes in love and his life in Grub Street as a prolific writer. Before he came to London, as one of the Best of Young British novelists, and Literary Editor of the Spectator, we meet another A. N. Wilson. We meet his father, the Managing Director of Wedgwood, the grotesque teachers at his first boarding school, and the dons of Oxford one of whom, at the age of just 20, he married, the renowned Shakespearean scholar, the late Katherine Duncan-Jones. At every turn of this reminiscence, Wilson is baffled by his earlier self whether flirting with unsuitable lovers or with the idea of the priesthood. His chapter on the High Camp semiTrade ReviewWhen you combine the deepest learning and the highest readability with the most plumptious story-telling, the result is A. N. Wilson … * Stephen Fry *A. N. Wilson is the most enjoyably readable writer I know. * Antonia Fraser *A. N. Wilson is the supreme man of letters. He has conquered every field: journalism, novels, biography, history – and now memoir. He is planet-brained and very funny – a vanishingly rare combination. * Harry Mount *I am stunned, as I always am, by Wilson's humanity and brilliance and hard honesty. * Deirdre McCloskey *Distinguished literary figure A. N. Wilson's exquisite memoir tells the story of the wife he fell for as a student then betrayed - and the lifetime of lust and longing that led to a deeply poignant ending. * Daily Mail *A. N. Wilson has written many brilliant biographies and novels but never a memoir - until now. It was worth the wait. So exhilarating. And definitely not a failed promise. * Daily Telegraph *Wilson is a torrentially readable autobiographer, capable of howlingly funny paragraphs, desperately sad scenes, gay slapstick, literary analysis and gossipy name-dropping in the same chapter. * John Walsh, Sunday Times *…an arresting, honest, memorable book, never naïve or sloppy­, tender and forgiving towards those who have hurt Wilson, contemptuous and merciless about his own cowardice, vanity and failings. * Literary Review *Descriptions of life as a theological student have the mischievous, observant wit of an accomplished humourist. * The Spectator *…in this fascinating, searingly honest memoir [Wilson] tells more of his own life story. * Jacqueline Wilson, bestselling children's author *Deliciously delicate barbs are scattered throughout the pages. * The Tablet *A. N. Wilson is the greatest living man of letters…He is proficient equally as a biographer, novelist, historian, essayist, editor and literary journalist. His every utterance is well worth pondering… * The Oldie *Scholarly, prolific and compulsively readable … it is impossible to resist Wilson’s storytelling… From its very first pages, “Confessions” promises to be terrifically entertaining, and it doesn’t fail in the slightest. * The Washington Post *A. N. Wilson is nothing short of a genius, a searing journalist, a prolific biographer, a historian and a novelist. There will be no finer book this year. * Rory Knight Bruce, The Field *All these accounts are fascinating, rendered with both melancholy and self-deprecating humor… * Booklist *Confessions reveals a dexterous storyteller… Mr. Wilson himself turned to writing, writing, writing—as if his earnest output might one day assuage “the wistful sense with which I began to write this book, that I have never been completely sure who A.N. Wilson was.” We aren’t sure, either, but it has been an interesting ride. * Wall Street Journal *Wilson’s yarn has much to recommend… A readable, often entertaining summation of a life of hard work and second thoughts. * Kirkus Reviews *...a poignant saga …laugh out loud, hilarious... a compelling read.. replete with acerbic humor. * City Book Review *Wilson knows how to tell a good story … Wilson captures a world that is smaller than today but also full of possibilities too soon passed. This may not be a confession, but it is a lament, and rightly so. * The Washington Examiner *A. N. Wilson is one of the very best novelists and biographers of his generation. He is also the most intriguing of them all. * Church Times *In this uproariously funny at times, and searingly – almost masochistically – honest pages, it is clear that one promise [Wilson] has been unswervingly faithful to is his promise as a writer. * Andrew Roberts, The Spectator *…a tight, funny yarn – and the year’s best memoir, filled with eye-popping scenes and wise asides. * Daily Telegraph *…Andrew Norman Wilson can write — fluidly, gracefully, and with immense literary flourish. * Washington Independent Review of Books *A must-read for devotees of Wilson's prolific literary output, Confessions is a rambling, poetry-infused remembrance of promises made, broken and reshaped along the way. * Shelf Awareness *Irresistible. * The Tablet's Books of the Year *…gripping confessional memoir, by turns hilarious and poignant… There’s profound affection in this beautifully written book. * Daily Mail *I’ve read Confessions twice with much enjoyment each time. * The Hudson Review *His memoir is, of course, highly readable; full of gossip and catty stories about the people he mixed with in the worlds of journalism, academia and publishing…A diverting read from an author who never minds giving the dirty details of people’s lives. * Fun with Books Blog *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Ungentle A. N. 2. Remind Me 3. Sorrowful Lay 4. Living up to the Blue China 5. Best of Young British 6. Masks 7. Norman Wilson’s Son 8. Leaving Germany 9. The Works 10. Frail Travelling 11. Andrew Woods 12. Contrasts 13. Warfare Accomplished 14. Miscarriages 15. What is my Name? 16. Convent Thoughts 17. Newcastle Road 18. When I Get There, I’ll Be Glad 19. Put Your Cap On, I Should 20. Notes for Boys 21. Little Bryan 22. Acqua Non Fizzimento 23. Journalistic Debut 24. A Bit of a Ruin 25. Mme de Liencourt, Mr Lowry and Others 26. Galsworthy Scholar 27. Kibbutznik 28. Lost Causes 29. Angel Fluffs 30. “Are they twa sweethearts?” 31. St Trinian’s 32. Superficial Journey 33. St Andrew’s by the Northern Sea 34. Prosaic and Drivelling 35. Clare 36. The Green Stick Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe wry and amusing second volume of the journals of royal biographer and Sunday Telegraph journalist Kenneth Rose, one of the most astute observers of the Establishment in 20th-century BritainTrade ReviewIntimate with the highest levels of society, politics, the arts and the Royal Family, Kenneth Rose has left us one of the most vivid, full and revealing records of the postwar era * Andrew Roberts *[Kenneth Rose] has written a historian's journal ... Nevertheless, Rose does cast a critical and acute eye over Vanity Fair ... this is how Kenneth wished to be remembered by the world: as a suave, amusing columnist and gifted historian who walked with the great -- James Stourton * LITERARY REVIEW *Kenneth Rose provides a fascinating window on the establishment in the second volume of his gossipy, scandalous and insightful diaries, * CHOICE magazine *Addictive stuff. Each entry is only a few lines long; it's like reading an extremely good newspaper diary for page after page. If you're a newspaper addict like me - and a gossip addict, too, again like me - you'll love it. You feel as if you're tucking into an enormous box of chocolates, happily dropping down into infinite layers of new chocs below, without ever feeling sick. * CATHOLIC HERALD *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA riveting account of what it meant to be a homosexual in 1950s Britain, by a central figure in the infamous Montagu Case - a landmark in the gay history of Britain.Trade ReviewA moving story of men who refused to feel ashamed * Telegraph *The noblest, and wittiest, and most appalling prison book of them all * New Statesman *

Read more less

Book Synopsis'I grew up on the world's largest island.'From his childhood, Tim Winton's relationship with the landscape around him – Australia's swamps and bush, rockpools, seacaves and scrub – has been as vital as any other connection. Whether camping in hidden inlets, walking in the high rocky desert fringe, or diving at Ningaloo Reef, Winton has felt the place seep into him – its rhythms, its dangers, its strange sustenance.Island Home is the story of how that relationship with the landscape came to be. Charged with love for the huge, besieging force of Australia's wild spaces, this book is a passionate call for their conservation, a memoir that urges us all to feel the ground beneath our feet. Tim Winton's Land's Edge: A Coastal Memoir, is also available.Trade ReviewBoth a celebration of Australia's wild places and an impassioned argument for their preservation . . . Island Home is a masterclass . . . chief among his influences, [Winton] says, was the novelist Randolph Stow, who was born in Geraldton, Winton's mother's home town . . . He was a writer "who seemed to feel the country of his birth as if he wore it". The same might be said of Winton himself * Telegraph *Vivid . . . eloquent . . . the real pleasures of Island Home lie in the personal memories he summons up with his novelist's skills * Sunday Times *Exquisite . . . Winton's writing - lyrical yet visceral - seems formed by Western Australia's variety, its sparkling rivers and red deserts as much as its colloquialism . . . Like Seamus Heaney's and Ted Hughes's, Winton's language feels a product of the land and the natural way to celebrate it . . . Read it * Spectator *Partly a love song to Australia and also an attempt to trace how this love affair began * Observer *In this strikingly well-written book, which blends history, personal memoir, cultural history and environmentalism so deftly that you cannot spot the joins, Winton writes about the extent to which he has been shaped by his country's landscape * National *The two themes that Winton wants to convey - and does so with brilliant success in this small jewel of a book - are the impact of a Western Australian heritage on his life and writing, and the urgent need to conserve Australia's wild places * Times Literary Supplement *A lyrical ode to the power of Oz's wild landscapes. A poetic and enchanting semi-memoir, the author's passion for the rocks and coral seeps into your pores like bush dust * Wanderlust *Perceptive and persuasive . . . a call to arms for us to appreciate, respect and interact with the natural world around us * Big Issue *Wonderful . . . Winton's prose nails his country's strange and savage beauty * RTÉ Guide *Like Wordsworth, he understands and feels the "abiding power" of certain places . . . triumphantly personal, quixotic, eccentric, risky, and daring -- Brian Matthews * Australian Book Review *A beautiful example of that aesthetic response to the glory and the mystery of nature.' William Yeoman * The West Australian *Winton remains one of the finest place-painters in Australian literature -- Jamie Hanson * Guardian (Australia) *Winton embraces everything that is good, bad and ugly about this continent and his commitment is contagious * Herald Sun *

Read more less

Book SynopsisEclectic and impassioned, a collection that affirms the power of the written word.' – ObserverThe Boy Behind the Curtain is a portrait of a life, a place and a man. In this deeply personal collection of true stories and essays Tim Winton shows how moments from his childhood and life growing up have shaped his views on class, faith, fundamentalism, the environment, and – most pressingly – how all his experiences have made him a writer. From unexpected links between car crashes and faith, surfing and writing, to the story of his upbringing in the changing Australian landscape, The Boy Behind the Curtain is an impassioned, funny, joyous, astonishing collection of memories, and Winton's most personal book to date.Trade ReviewEclectic and impassioned, it is a collection that affirms the power of the written word and Winton’s mastery of it * Observer *One of Australia’s best-loved novelists. Melancholy but humorous, lyrical but boisterous . . . will delight eventhose unfamiliar with his fiction * Daily Telegraph *One of the greatest writers ever to emerge from Down Under . . . this is a real memoir – a book that grabs you by the scruff and forces you to take a good, hard look into the author’s soul. Compelling, unflinching and true, it’s surely the definitive statement on Winton the man * Scotsman *The bard of the beach-front * Economist *I love Tim Winton's writing, and this treasure trove of autobiographical stories and essays is packed with enthralling insights into his life and work * Bookseller (Editor's Choice) *Tim Winton is a favourite novelist of mine. Always has been. So to read The Boy Behind the Curtain, his collection of autobiographical stories and essays, was a total joy. Here are the influences that shaped Cloudstreet, Breath, The Riders, et al. In one essay, he writes about the gut-churning process and despair of fiction writing. I felt sick. Wonderful. -- Sarah Winman * Guardian *

Read more less

Book SynopsisTen Days in a Mad-House (1887) is a book by American investigative journalist Nellie Bly. For her first assignment for Joseph Pulitzer’s famed New York World newspaper, Bly went undercover as a patient at a notorious insane asylum on Blackwell’s Island. Spending ten days there, she recorded the abuses and neglect she witnessed, turning her research into a sensational two-part story for the New York World later published as Ten Days in a Mad-House. Checking into a New York boardinghouse under a false identity, Bly began acting in a disturbed, unsettling manner, prompting the police to be summoned. In a courtroom the next morning, she claimed to be suffering from amnesia, leading to her diagnosis as insane from several doctors. Sent to the Women’s Lunatic Asylum, Bly spent ten days witnessing and experiencing rampant abuse and neglect. There, she noticed that many of the patients, who were constantly beaten and belittled by violent nurses and staff members, seemed perfectly sane or showed signs of having their conditions severely worsened during their time at the asylum. Served spoiled food, forced to live in squalor, and given ice-cold baths by unsympathetic attendants, the patients she met during her stay seemed as though abandoned by a city that had sent them there for the supposed purpose of healing. Showcasing her skill as a reporter and true pioneer of investigative journalism, Bly published her story to a captivated and inspired audience, setting in motion a process of reform that would change the city’s approach to its asylums for the better. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Nellie Bly’s Ten Days in a Mad-House is a classic work of American investigative journalism reimagined for modern readers.

Read more less

Book Synopsis‘A tender memoir of the challenges of bereavement ... I closed this book wishing I’d met her – but feeling that I almost had’ Daily Telegraph _______________ A memoir of a husband's grief, and an unforgettable portrait of a marriage; a profound examination of sorrow, and a great celebration of love - by the Sunday Times-bestselling author James Runcie James Runcie’s wife Marilyn Imrie died in August 2020. Their thirty-five year marriage had been miraculously happy – until, in the last two years of Marilyn’s life, she descended into the pain and humiliation of motor neurone disease. In the wake of her death, Runcie stumbled in the dark. How do you make sense of the decline and death of the most alive person you have ever met? And how do you go about building a life worth living in their absence? In Tell Me Good Things, Runcie tells the story of Marilyn’s illness and death – in all its moments of tragedy, rage, farce and surrealness – while painting a vivid portrait of her life and their marriage: a partnership defined by a shared love of beauty, conviviality and storytelling. And during that first year of loss, he awakens to the strange paradox of grief: that the way to survive Marilyn's death is to understand how very good she was at living. Tender, funny, profound and deeply true, Tell Me Good Things is an unforgettable story of life before death – and love beyond the grave. ‘A touchingly honest and tender memoir' The Times ‘A wonderful addition to the literature of bereavement’ Sunday TimesTrade ReviewJames Runcie’s account of losing his wife to MND is vivid, bleak and wonderful… Where Runcie is excellent is in laying bare his own grief, its narcissism and the ‘bizarre freedom’ is gives him not to care anymore… As an instructive examination of how to find hope in the thralls of depair, Tell Me Good Things is a wonderful addition to the literature of bereavement – and it is most definitely not just for its writer * SUNDAY TIMES *A tender memoir of the challenges of bereavement ... I closed this book wishing I’d met her – but feeling that I almost had * DAILY TELEGRAPH *In this beautifully written memoir, Runcie combines a glorious celebration of their love with an unsparing account of Marilyn’s swift decline, and the harsh reality of grief * DAILY MAIL *Tender, heart-breaking and funny by turns. Marilyn’s vibrant character leaps off the page * CHURCH TIMES *A touchingly honest and tender memoir ... Runcie generously fulfils the promise of his title … because his memoir is full of good things: stories that reveal Imrie’s sharp intelligence, her bold fashion sense, her glee at pricking the bubble of pretension * THE TIMES *Praise for James Runcie: ‘Runcie has the gift of the born storyteller * DAILY MAIL *Runcie has an expert imagination -- HILARY MANTELTremendous: shrewd, compelling and full of insight -- WILLIAM BOYDA triumph of inspired imagination -- FINANCIAL TIMES

Read more less

Book SynopsisA classic of modern travel writing, An Area of Darkness is Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul’s profound reckoning with his ancestral homeland.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is introduced by internationally acclaimed author Paul Theroux.Traveling from the bureaucratic morass of Bombay to the ethereal beauty of Kashmir, from a sacred ice cave in the Himalayas to an abandoned temple near Madras, Naipaul encounters a dizzying cross-section of humanity: browbeaten government workers and imperious servants, a suavely self-serving holy man and a deluded American religious seeker. An Area of Darkness also abounds with Naipaul’s strikingly original responses to India’s paralyzing caste system, its acceptance of poverty and squalor, and the conflict between its desire for self-determination and its nostalgia for the British raj. This may be the most elegant and passionate book ever written about the subcontinent.Trade ReviewBrilliant . . . true autobiography arises when a man encounters something in his life which shocks him into the need for self-examination and self-exploration. It was natural that a sojourn in India should provide this shock for Naipaul. The experience was not a pleasant one, but the pain the author suffered was creative rather than numbing. An Area of Darkness is tender, lyrical, explosive and cruel * Observer *Written with the expected beauty of style . . . Instead of diminishing life, Naipaul ennobles it -- Anthony BurgessThe conclusion is both heart-breaking and bracing: the only antidote to destruction – of dreams, of reality – is remembering. As eloquently as anyone now writing, Naipaul remembers * Times *A wonderful book . . . a magical book * Independent *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn a career spanning six decades, David Lodge has been one of Britain's best-loved and most versatile writers. With Varying Degrees of Success he completes a trilogy of memoirs which describe his life from birth in 1935 to the present day, and together form a remarkable autobiography. He describes the highs and lows of being a professional creative writer in several different genres, his extensive travels around the world, and the hope and desire of writers to make a significant and positive impression on their readers and audiences. Varying Degrees of Success provides the reader with a privileged insight into the working practices and the creative life of a major British novelist.'Continuously engaging... Glimpses of the ambition and energy required to fuel the final stretch of his near 60-year career as the most dependable of novelist-critics' New Statesman'Lodge is the best British novelist never to have won the Man Booker prize' The TimesTrade ReviewLodge is the best British novelist never to have won the Man Booker prize * The Times *One of the leading writers of his generation * Guardian *As an account of the period, Varying Degrees of Success is continuously engaging... glimpses of the ambition and energy required to fuel the final stretch of his near 60-year career as the most dependable of novelist-critics. * New Statesman *

Read more less

Book Synopsis'One of the all-time great memoirs' Daily Telegraph'Wonderful...candid, shrewd and moving' William Boyd'Laugh-out-loud glorious and uproarious' Simon SchamaHoward Jacobson's funny, revealing and tender memoir of his path to becoming a writer.Howard Jacobson was forty when his first novel was published. In Mother's Boy, he traces the life that brought him there. Born into a working-class Jewish family in 1940s Manchester, he did not lack encouragement or subject matter. Jacobson takes us from childhood and studying at Cambridge, through landing in Sydney as a maverick young professor, and on to his first marriage and the birth of his son. Later, he begins new - and often surprising - ventures in places as disparate as London, Wolverhampton, Boscastle and Melbourne.Infused with bittersweet memories of Jacobson's parents and friends, this is the story of a writer's beginnings, and of learning to understand who you are before you can become the writer you were meant to be.'Hilariously brilliant' David Baddiel'Howard Jacobson brilliantly transforms calamity into rip-roaring comedy' Craig Brown, Mail on SundayTrade ReviewA wonderful memoir, written with great linguistic brio. Candid, shrewd and moving - a classic of its kind. -- William BoydHoward Jacobson has always been hilariously brilliant at writing fictional versions of his life. He can, it turns out, also tell the real story with all that brilliance and hilarity, with the added gain for the reader of finding out what - and who - made him that writer. -- David BaddielSide-splittingly funny and serious, too, Howard Jacobson has written one of the all-time great memoirs. -- Nicholas Lezard * Daily Telegraph *Mother's Boy is a synthesis of his life's work...as well as an original story... it is every bit as funny. -- Toby Lichtig * Times Literary Supplement *Laugh-out-loud glorious and uproarious of course - but don't let the self-ribbing fool you; this is deep and poignant. -- Simon Schama

Read more less

Book Synopsis''I was fascinated, moved and entertained by every page. This is the kind of book the world needs right now'' DONAL RYAN_______________''My dictionary''s first two definitions of ''comrade'' are:A close companion.An intimate associate or friend.The third one is:A fellow soldier.My friends have been all those things to me.''In this stunning essay collection, award-winning journalist Rosita Boland explores the many friendships that have shaped her life. Surprising and beautiful, she writes about the imaginary friends of early childhood, books that have provided companionship and joy, kindred spirits met while travelling, the friend she hoped might become something more, and also the friendships that become lost over time.Life-affirming, affecting and wise, Comrades is a powerful exploration of what it is to live, to connect, and to be human in this world._______________''An absorbing journey along

Read more less

Book SynopsisBestselling novelist Amanda Prowse knew how to resolve a fictional family crisis. But then her son came to her with a real one… Josiah was nineteen with the world at his feet when things changed. Without warning, the new university student’s mental health deteriorated to the point that he planned his own death. His mother, bestselling author Amanda Prowse, found herself grappling for ways to help him, with no clear sense of where that could be found. This is the book they wish had been there for them during those dark times. Josiah’s situation is not unusual: the statistics on student mental health are terrifying. And he was not the only one suffering; his family was also hijacked by his illness, watching him struggle and fearing the day he might succeed in taking his life. In this book, Josiah and Amanda hope to give a voice to those who suffer, and to show them that help can be found. It is Josiah’s raw, at times bleak, sometimes humorous, but always honest account of what it is like to live with depression. It is Amanda’s heart-rending account of her pain at watching him suffer, speaking from the heart about a mother’s love for her child. For anyone with depression and anyone who loves someone with depression, Amanda and Josiah have a clear message—you are not alone, and there is hope.Trade Review“Just before Josiah was due to take A levels, he had his first major depressive episode. At the time neither he nor his family had a clue what was happening. He did go on to university as planned. At university his mental health deteriorated further. Josiah Hartley and his mother, the novelist Mandy Prowse, talk about their experiences.” —Woman’s Hour “In this incredibly moving episode we’re joined by Amanda Prowse and Josiah Hartley to talk family and mental health. Including how they were able to find a way out of deep depression together.” —Mental “A brave and insightful book that shimmers with warmth and hope.” —The Lady “A courageous and open book that will offer practical help to everyone touched by depression. Startling and important.” —Platinum “I truly believe this book will help so many individuals struggling with their mental health as well as help their families…A candid, moving and inspirational book, I am blown away.” —Johnny Benjamin, bestselling author of The Stranger on the Bridge

Read more less

Book SynopsisFrom the bestselling author of The Vagina Monologuesa powerful, life-changing examination of abuse and atonementnow in paperback, timed to its theatrical opening in New York.A triumph of artistry and empathy. Naomi KleinA crucial step forward . . . This is an urgently needed book right now. Jane FondaCourageous, transformative, and yes--healing. Anne LamottLike millions of women, Eve Ensler has been waiting much of her lifetime for an apology. Sexually and physically abused by her father, Eve has struggled her whole life from this betrayal, longing for an honest reckoning from a man who is long dead. After years of work as an anti-violence activist, she decided she would wait no longer; an apology could be imagined, by her, for her, to her. The Apology, written by Eve from her father''s point of view in the words she longed to hear, attempts to transform the abuse she suffered with unflinching truthfulness, compassion, and an expansive vision for the future. Through The Apology Eve has set out to provide a new way for herself and a possible road for others, so that survivors of abuse may finally envision how to be free. She grapples with questions she has sought answers to since she first realized the impact of her father's abuse on her life: How do we offer a doorway rather than a locked cell? How do we move from humiliation to revelation, from curtailing behavior to changing it, from condemning perpetrators to calling them to reckoning? What will it take for abusers to genuinely apologize?Remarkable and original, The Apology is an acutely transformational look at how, from the wounds of sexual abuse, we can begin to re-emerge and heal. It is revolutionary, asking everything of each of us: courage, honesty, and forgiveness.

Read more less

Book SynopsisJack Foley has been prominent in the San Francisco Bay Area poetry scene since the mid-1980s. The Light of Evening traces the arc of his life since his birth in New Jersey in 1940. Foley has spent his life in the pursuit of ways to continue writing poetry in a world in which the status of poetry has been seriously diminished. This candid autobiography offers a portrait of an artist who has continued to produce experimental as well as traditional work and who created theoretical underpinnings for that work. His exciting “choruses” – duets performed with his late wife Adelle – established him as a unique presenter of poetry in an area in which poets abound. Along with his creative work, Foley studied at Cornell with the brilliant and notorious deconstructionist critic Paul de Man. He lived through the 1960s in and around Berkeley, California, attending the university at the height of the Free Speech Movement. Following on the heels of Kenneth Rexroth, he has presented poetry on KPFA-FM, Berkeley’s radical radio station, for over thirty years. He produced a 1300-page history of Californian poetry from 1940 to 2005 that has been called “an oddball masterpiece ... the first adequate account of California's complex and contradictory literary life.” At eighty, Foley looks back at a life in which he managed to maintain himself as a contrarian poet who never resorted to the academy for sustenance and who never courted fame from the East Coast literary hegemony. The Light of Evening is the story of a complex, always-in-motion public intellectual for whom poetry was first, last, and always.

Read more less

Book SynopsisStay brings together nearly thirty years of work (poetry, memoir, essays, interviews, plays, film), in a mixed-media retrospective that shows nothing is created in isolation. Threads in the artist's life are presented alongside many of the artistic collaborations that have led to-or come out of-his own work, including a selection of images from an ongoing daily collage practice, which Flynn considers a type of meditation. Like Flynn's life, Stay is populated by examples of his collaborations with artists he has worked with since the 1980s: Amy Arbus, John Baldessari, Guy Barash, William Blake, Robert De Niro (performance), Marilyn Minter (photograph), Josh Neufeld (comic art), Catherine Opie (photograph), Sarah Sentilles (drone alert sutras), Bill Shuck (installation), Paul Weitz (film). A full color, hardcover edition, Stay is a wide-ranging and personal journey through the public and private spaces of an artist at the peak of his powers.Trade Review"One of the pleasures of a book like Stay is its ability (rather, its capacity) to surprise...That's the beautiful thing about a book like Stay: the juxtaposition, the play between art forms, and how it allows room for experience, opens up space to sit and feel." -Brock Kingsley, Chicago Review of Books "Personally, this book came to me when I needed it and detangled some of the loose threads balled up in my mind. This book is a self-portrait, a collaboration, and a piece of art. This book is essential." -Ali Hintz, Arkansas International "Over the course of a year, [Flynn] will have released three books...Stay feels like the glue that brings them all together."-Licia Morelli, Vanity Fair "Stay [is] a kaleidoscopic self-portrait that combines Massachusetts native Flynn's writing, photography, and collage with visual art from dozens of collaborators and influences and friends."-Kate Tuttle, The Boston Globe

Read more less

Book SynopsisVogue's Best Books of Summer 2021 "Everyone had a clearer vision of my body than I did. It didn't feel as if my body was really mine..." At age fourteen, Jonathan Wells weighs just sixty-seven pounds, triggering a scrutinizing persecution of his body that will follow him into adulthood. Upstate New York in the 1970s: A boy in preparatory day school suffers a harrowing attack by a teacher offended by his failure to put on weight. For the first time in his young life, Jonathan Wells is forced to question his right to take up space in the world. Jonathan's father, reading his weight as a clear and deeply concerning deficit of masculinity, creates a workout regimen meant to bulk him up. When that doesn't help, he has Jonathan seen by a slew of specialists, all claiming he is in perfect health, and yet the problem cannot be denied: the boy is simply too skinny. Jonathan's complicated relationship with his charming but elusive mother does not help matters. As the eldest son, he is privy to the struggles of a fraying marriage in which he, unwittingly, plays a divisive role. As a result, Jonathan is sent to boarding school in Switzerland, where he manages to establish an identity of his own among the child exiles and outcasts that make up the student body. And yet, his father's obsession follows him to Europe, threatening to destroy the space he has painstakingly won for himself. The critically acclaimed poet and author of the collection Debris, Jonathan Wells gives us a candid, powerful, and quietly humorous memoir about the universal exploration of adolescence and self-image, the frailty of masculinity, and all the places we seek comfort in a world that tries to define us.Trade Review"One of the most vulnerable memoirs I've ever read, Jonathan Wells' Skinny is the story of surviving the long, brutal gauntlet toward manhood that many boys who grew up in the 1970s and;80s endured. An important cautionary tale illuminating the devastating, lifelong harm caused by rigid gender rules and the parents who try to enforce them."--Bill Clegg, author of Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man and he End of the Day The Skinny is a poignant account of what it is like to grow up as a diminutive boy in a world that prefers its men big and strong. In precise and poetic prose, Jonathan Wells explores the intersection of wealth, sexuality, and body image, peeling back the glittering layers of privilege, searching for his father's approval, and examining the assumptions made about male size in a culture of toxic masculinity. Ultimately, The Skinny is an illuminating memoir of one man's search for meaning, acceptance and love.--Adrienne Brodeur, author of Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover and Me Here's the skinny on The Skinny. Wells has written a memoir that's lean without being gaunt, rawboned without being fleshless. It's an elegant work of curving contours and sharp-edged insight that captures a world long gone in voluptuous prose that nonetheless, is delightfully devoid of flab or excess.--Allen Kurzweil, author of Whipping Boy: The Forty-Year Search for My Twelve-Year Old Bully Jonathan Wells was small as a child--short, but also quite thin. That trait, the way others reacted to it, and its nonconformity with perceived male norms led to a painful chain reaction of events...The Skinny is gripping in its wonderful articulation of an underrepresented perspective on masculinity. --Foreword Review Jonathan Wells's extraordinary coming-of-age memoir, The Skinny, is not only startling and heartbreaking, but each page seems somehow even more riveting and moving than the last. If you want the skinny - I mean, the real skinny - about growing up in a male body in this country it's time you read this deeply compelling and eminently wise new book.--David St. John, author of The Last Troubadour Layer by layer, Jonathan Wells unravels the father-son knot in ways both troubling and uplifting. I was gripped by The Skinny, a remarkable portrait of the most tangled of relationships, written with a poet's eye and grace.--Roger Cohen, The Girl from Human Street: A Jewish Family Odyssey With a poet's grace, Jonathan Wells has written a harrowing memoir about growing up severely underweight, about surviving sexual abuse by a schoolmaster--and about his tyrannical father's determination to transform his son's body into his own ideal of masculinity. The Skinny is a deeply haunting account of the lasting effects of emotional and physical bullying. I couldn't put it down.--Besty Bonner, The Book of Atlantis Black

Read more less

Book Synopsis“[Metcalf’s] talent is generous, hectoring, huge, and remarkable.”—Washington PostIn Temerity & Gall, Metcalf looks back on a lifetime spent in letters; surveys, with no punches pulled, the current state of CanLit; and offers a passionate defense of the promise and potential of Canadian writing.In a 1983 editorial letter to the Globe and Mail, celebrated Canadian novelist W.P. Kinsella railed that “Mr. Metcalf—an immigrant—continually and in the most galling manner has the temerity to preach to Canadians about their own literature.” Forty years later, in spite of Kinsella’s effort to discredit him in the name of a misguided nationalism both embarrassing and familiar, John Metcalf still has the temerity and gall to preach, to teach, and to write passionately (and uproariously) about literature in Canada. Part memoir, meditation, and apologia, part criticism and pure Metcalf, the present volume distills a lifetime of reading and writing, thinking and collecting, and continues his necessary work kicking against the ever-present pricks. As is the case with all of his critical work, Temerity & Gall will challenge, delight, anger, and inspire in equal measure, and is essential reading for anyone interested in literature in Canada and its place within the wider tradition of writing in English.Temerity & Gall is printed in a limited paperback edition of 750 copies signed and numbered by the author.Trade ReviewPraise for Temerity & Gall"Incandescent [...] steeped in acid wit."—Literary Review of Canada"[Metcalf's] exacting eye and his ongoing willingness to call out what he considers substandard, inert, or deadening in our literary culture has earned him opprobrium ... One need not agree with everything [he] says to find much to gnaw on in his analyses of the various ways literary technique and style ... are too often downgraded or outright ignored. ... While it’s amusing to wrestle with the temerity and gall of Metcalf’s settled esthetic standards ... his achievement in translating this approach into practice as mentor and guiding light is invaluable and we are all in his debt."—Steven W. Beattie, Toronto Star"[Metcalf] deliver[s] a layered and textured narrative highlighting a wide range of writing and writers, one that immerses the reader into the soul of what writing, and thus literature, is supposed to be. And in this, he has succeeded."—Ottawa Review of Books"Temerity & Gall is obviously a must-have for book lovers but, since it presents Metcalf’s energetic meandering from a re-union of the Montreal Story Tellers through colourful observations and unabashed opinions, it can be enjoyed by anyone seeking stimulation of the mind."—Winnipeg Free PressPraise for John Metcalf “John Metcalf has written some of the very best stories ever published in this country.”—Alice Munro “[Metcalf’s] talent is generous, hectoring, huge, and remarkable.”—Washington Post “In the past few decades, Canada has won a reputation as a prolific producer of high-quality short stories. Alice Munro, Mavis Gallant and John Metcalf are among those who have proven themselves masters of the difficult form.” —Maclean’s “Hilarious, touching and delightful … brilliant concision and understated humor.” —Los Angeles Times “A master stylist confidently at work in his favoured form.” —Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature: Second Edition “Masterful ... Harsh reality, hope, and caricature mingle in this tour de force. As Metcalf says in his previous book, "Writing is very hard work but at the same time it is delightful play." An exceptional collection.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe childhood and early life memoir of Antonia Fraser, one of our finest narrative historians.Antonia Fraser's magical memoir describes growing up in the 1930s and '40s, but its real concern is with her growing love of history. A fascination that began with reading Our Island Story and her evacuation to an Elizabethan manor house at the beginning of the Second World War soon developed into an enduring passion, becoming, in her own words, 'an essential part of the enjoyment of life'.My History follows Antonia's relationship with her family: she was the eldest of eight children. Her parents Frank and Elizabeth Pakenham, later Lord and Lady Longford, were both Labour politicians. Then there are her adventures as a self-made debutante before Oxford University and a fortunate coincidence that leads to her working in publishing. It closes with the publication of her first major historical work, Mary Queen of Scots - a book that became a worldwide bestseller. Told with inimitable humour and style, this is an unforgettable account of one person's journey towards becoming a writer - and a historian.Trade ReviewMy History, a captivating memoir of her childhood and early youth ... is a delight from start to finish. Antonia Fraser is warm, amusing, intelligent, generous and original. She says that her idea of perfect happiness is to be alone in a room with a house full of people. I can't think of a better way to start the year than to be alone in a room with this book -- Cressida Connolly * SPECTATOR *Inevitably this chronicle is at first much concerned with her parents, her mother's literary skills, her father's rumpled person, the Leftish political endeavours of both, but gradually the clever girl takes over and her very ow History begins with the conviction that the medieval Matilda, Joan of Arc, Mary Queen of Scots and Marie Antoinette were much more interesting than the heroines of children's books -- Brian Sewell * THE OLDIE *Venerable historian Antonia Fraser looks back on her formative years growing up in Oxford in the 1930s and 1940s -- Charlotte Heathcote * DAILY EXPRESS *Lady Antonia Fraser begins this memoir of her youth with a quote from historian George Macaulay Trevelyan that captures the allure of history. The idea that "once, on this familiar spot of ground, walked other men and women" from ages past, "gone as utterly as we ourselves shall shortly be gone like ghosts at cockcrow" -- Andrew Wilson * THE INDEPENDENT *The title of Antonia Fraser's memoir has two meanings. This is her history, in the sense that she is describing the early part of her long, garlanded life. But it is also an account of how she was drawn to history, which she traces back to a Christmas present she was given when she was four - H. E. Marshall's Our Island Story * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *One of the things Antonia Fraser remembers most fondly from her childhood was games of 'rugger'. 'All the girls at the Dragon [her school] in those days played rugger as a matter of course, there was nothing special about it.' Fraser played on the wing and found it 'intoxicating'. Years later, at an Army and Navy match at Twickenham, an enthusiastic general took it upon himself to explain the rules of the game to her, and had to be stopped after she assured him - to his incredulity - that she knew the game perfectly well -- Lynn Barber * SUNDAY TIMES *In the final section of this engaging autobiography come fulfilment and resolution. There is marriage and a family of six children; there is a new and harmonious relationship with her mother, who herself became a historian of note ('now with my Small Children and her History', as Antonia puts it, 'we had all the most important things in common'); and with the acclaim greeting the publication of Mary, Queen of Scots there is the triumphant start of a long and distinguished career -- Selina Hastings * MAIL ON SUNDAY *My History is a hugely enjoyable squishy romp, the literary equivalent of a big crumbling meringue at a society wedding -- Roger Lewis * THE TIMES - Book of the Week *Fraser's previous volume of memoir, Must You Go?, an account of her life with Harold Pinter, was acclaimed as a moving love story. In this second instalment, she stands unabashed and alone - wise, self-deprecating and always entertaining -- Peter Stanford * DAILY TELEGRAPH *She killed a viper in a sandpit as a toddler and at 23 began writing her own books: most notably chronicling the lives of Cromwell, Marie Antoinette and Mary Queen of Scots. Now Harold Pinter's widow charts the events of her own early life in a bid to inspire others to fall in love with history -- Susanna Gross * MAIL ON SUNDAY *Antonia Fraser, the historical biographer and widow of playwright Harold Pinter, takes us on a fascinating journey through her formative years * GOOD HOUSEKEEPING *Historian, debutante, useful rugger player - Lady Antonia Fraser has led a life of vivid contrasts. Her memoir of her relationship with the playwright Harold Pinter, Must You Go?, gave a glimpse of a partnership of successful writers. in this second excursion into personal history she revisits the more distant realm of childhood -- Jane Shilling * EVENING STANDARD *Dame Antonia Fraser's memoir about her early life is sheer delight. It is the story of her childhood, adolescence and early adult life, and it is also the story of her fascination with history, which led her to her first bestseller, the biography of Mary Queen of Scots, published in 1969 -- Allan Massie * THE SCOTSMAN *It is at its most engaging when she describes her own writing process, her deep fascination for history and the problems of its retelling -- Kate Colquhoun * SUNDAY EXPRESS *Above all, what comes through was her success as a historian that has been achieved by determination and hard work. You can't help admiring this very grand lady -- Vanessa Berridge * DAILY EXPRESS *It shows how one curious-minded girl born in 1932 became entranced by history from a young age; by doing this, it inspires us all to think about how the next generation should have their minds opened to history -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * COUNTRY LIFE *Engaging and elegiac -- Virginia Rouning * FINANCIAL TIMES *The childhood and early life of the distinguished historian Antonia Fraser is the focus of her memoir My History although its real concern is her growing love of history * CHOICE *My History is a travelogue of the mind through the roaming delights of youth to the full realisation of the power of the past. It is an eloquent, candid and very funny account of growing up in exalted circles, but really, and really originally, it is a glorious paean to the poetry of history -- Jessie Childs * THE TABLET *She writes every kind of anecdote, hard and soft, with a sustained, strong tone, inimitably her own and with always a smile behind a frown and a frown behind each smile -- Peter Stothard * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *Antonia Fraser had, by her own account, an enchanted childhood, so much so that when she heard the bells of Magdalen College again more than 60 years later, "wonderland once more returned". She dreamed she was the heroine of a fairytale, "the beggar girl (intensely beautiful) who, armed with a first-class degree, wrote bestselling books". It was standard stuff for a girl growing up in Oxford whose father was a don at Christ Church, but not all dreams come true as emphatically as this one -- Hilary Spurling * GUARDIAN *It is Fraser's own dynamism that shines out of this charming book -- Julia Richardson * DAILY MAIL *This elegant, charming memoir covers her early life and ends with the publication of her first book -- Simon Shaw * MAIL ON SUNDAY *A hymn to Fraser's happy family background * THE WEEK *In all senses, this is a romantic memoir -- Lesley McDowell * INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY *The historian Antonia Fraser has a well-known father in the Labour Cabinet minister and penal reformer Lord Longford, but she perhaps owed more in career terms to her mother, Elizabeth Longford, a celebrated biographer. But as this warm, witty memoir of her early life reveals, Antonia Fraser has always been very much her own person * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe autobiography Nancy Mitford intended to write herself

Read more less

Book SynopsisFollowing a turbulent upbringing, a history of addiction and a committal to an asylum, the teachings of Malcolm X changed Hakim Jamal's life. He became an eloquent, rousing spokesperson for the Nation of Islam movement, moved to London, began a relationship with Gale Benson - the daughter of a British MP - and published a book about Malcolm X, with Diana Athill. Before long, however, he began behaving erratically again, and believed himself to be God. Raw and unflinching, Make Believe is a memoir of friendship, love, mania and injustice. A witness to his struggles, Athill reflects on her relationship with Hakim with characteristic empathy and candour, whilst charting the events that led to Gale's - and not long after, Hakim's - murder.Trade ReviewUnnervingly candid, cooly harrowing, redolent of the hectic late Sixties and early Seventies but oddly suggestive of the tortuous depths that all relationships hold -- John UpdikeA memoir with the immediacy and grip of a good novel -- Hilary Mantel

Read more less

Book Synopsis‘Exquisite in its honesty and truth and resilience, and a necessary chronicle from one of the greatest writers of our time’ Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieSelected as a Book of the Year 2016 in the GuardianWhen Ngugi wa Thiong’o arrives at the prestigious Makerere University, it embodies all the potential and excitement of the early 1960s. Campus is a haven of opportunity for the brightest African students, a meeting place for thinkers and writers from all over the world, and its alumni are filling Africa’s emerging political and cultural positions. Despite the challenges he faces as a young black man in a British colony, it is here that Ngugi begins to find his voice as a playwright, journalist and novelist, writing his first, pivotal works just as the countries of East Africa enter the final stages of their independence struggles.Trade ReviewI particularly loved [Birth of A Dream Weaver]… Exquisite in its honesty and truth and resilience, and a necessary chronicle from one of the greatest writers of our time. -- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie * Guardian, Book of the Year *The book tracks the blossoming of a politically conscious young writer’s talent in the nurturing environment that was Makerere in its prime. Egged on by fellow students, encouraged by the progressive dean Hugh Dinwiddy and offered tips by a visiting Chinua Achebe, Ngugi finds his creative voice just as a continent is finding its freedom. The convictions he forms will last a lifetime: the quest for African dignity and self-realization, a rejection of Western hegemony, a passionate call for Africans to tell their own story in their own indigenous languages. -- Michela Wrong * New York Times *Ngugi has written an autobiographical masterpiece... a riveting read in African history and literature * Library Journal, STARRED review *Ngugi wa Thiong’o recalls his upbringing in colonial Kenya... Mr Ngugi’s unstated goal throughout this book is reclamation...of much of the colonial endeavour in east Africa. * Economist *A tremendous writer... It's hard to doubt the power of the written word when you hear the story of Ngugi wa Thiong’o * Guardian *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn this heartfelt memoir, Yan Lianke brings the reader into his boyhood home in Song County, Henan Province, painting a richly detailed portrait of rural China during the Cultural RevolutionIt is a hard but loving childhood. Yan’s family carve out a modest existence, though food is often so scarce they have to find edible bark and clay for sustenance. Working sixteen-hour shifts in a quarry, Yan’s hands become as crooked as twigs, but the satisfaction of hard physical labour and earning money to support his family proves intoxicating. Reading novels is an escape for Yan, and he yearns to become a writer after hearing about a woman who was allowed to remain in the city of Harbin after publishing her first novel.Caught between his obligations as a son and a brother, and his longing for a new life, Yan eventually joins the army. He returns years later to find his father’s health rapidly deteriorating in the face of his desperate efforts to build a traditional tile-roofed house for each of his sons.Chronicling the extraordinary lives of his father and two uncles, as well as his own, Three Brothers is a celebration of the power of one family to hold together in the most punishing of circumstances. Sharply alive to the cyclical nature of history, and the power of familial guilt, it also shows how the pen can be a route to freedom.Trade ReviewFull of love, sorrow, and tenderness, Yan Lianke’s memoir offers a deeply heartfelt account of his family in the 1960s and 70s. Three Brothers is a must read for anyone who wants to understand post-Mao China and a new opportunity to experience more of what this extraordinary author conveys to us with his vivid and poetic style -- Xiaolu GuoYan’s heart remains firmly with the patient and stoic people who scratch a living from the soil, year after year, and for whom family is everything. It is an elegiac tribute to his father’s generation -- Isabel Hilton * Financial Times *One of the masters of modern Chinese literature -- Jung ChangYan depicts his provincial relatives with enormous heart and respect, acknowledging their sacrifices in a dark yet poignant meditation on grief and death... A memoir steeped in metaphor and ultimately tremendously moving. * Kirkus *The work of the Chinese author Yan Lianke reminds us that free expression is always in contention – to write is to risk the hand of power * Guardian *Fierce, funny, painful and playful…a great Chinese writer -- Amos OzYan is one of those rare geniuses who finds in the peculiar absurdities of his own culture the absurdities that infect all cultures * Washington Post *One of China’s most loved writers -- Isabel Hilton * Financial Times *A celebration of the power of one family to hold together int he most punishing of circumstances * Asian Art Newspaper, *Books of the Year* *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe only autobiography by the great Roland Barthes, philosopher, literary theorist and semiotician.This is the autobiography of one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century. As idiosyncratic as its author, Barthes plays both commentator and subject to reveal his tastes, habits, passions and regrets. No event, relationship or thought is given priority over any other; no attempt to construct a narrative is made. And yet, via a series of vignettes, Barthes's life and views on a multitude of subjects emerge - from money and love to language and truth.WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ADAM PHILLIPSTrade ReviewHighly original, extremely fertile and inventive, [Barthes] really does represent, in a peculiarly qualified way, a new kind of writing, and he continually discovers new ways of writing about writing... It is a remarkable book * New York Times Book Review *Anyone who saw [Barthes] as only the stern structuralist, dissecting signs, symbols and systems, must have missed the personal touches that would eventually burst into the open in his weird and wonderful “anti-autobiography” which begins with the announcement that its contents “must all be considered as if spoken by a character in a novel” and proceeds to jump from first to second to third person, accumulating scenes and lists and essay fragment * Telegraph *Though Barthes left behind disciples, there can be no replacing him; his brilliance had a wavelength all its own

Read more less

Book SynopsisWilbur Smith has lived an incredible life of adventure, and now he shares the extraordinary true stories that have inspired his fiction. I've been writing novels for over fifty years. I was lucky enough to miss the big wars and not get shot, but lucky enough to grow up among the heroes who had served in them and learn from their example. I have lucked into things continuously. I have done things which have seemed appalling at the time, disastrous even, but out of them has come another story or a deeper knowledge of human character and the ability to express myself better on paper and write books which people enjoy reading.Along the way, I have lived a life that I could never have imagined. I have been privileged to meet people from all corners of the globe, I have been wherever my heart has desired and in the process my books have taken readers to many, many places. I always say I've started wars, I've burned down cities and I've killed hundreds of thousands of people - but only in my imagination!From being attacked by lions to close encounters with deadly reef sharks, from getting lost in the African bush without water to crawling the precarious tunnels of gold mines, from marlin fishing with Lee Marvin to near death from crash-landing a Cessna aeroplane, from brutal school days to redemption through writing and falling in love, Wilbur Smith tells us the intimate stories of his life that have been the raw material for his fiction. Always candid, sometimes hilarious and never less than thrillingly entertaining, On Leopard Rock is testament to a writer whose life is as rich and eventful as his novels are compellingly unputdownable.Trade ReviewThis brutally honest, entertaining and compelling autobiography reflects an extraordinary man and his extraordinary talent * Lancashire Evening Post *If you love the books of Wilbur Smith then I do recommend that you read this exciting adventure story that reads more like one of his novels than a non-fiction account of his life. There are thrills and danger, as well as inspiration for all writers to keep doing what you love, do it well and enjoy life to the full * Smorgasboard blog *A rollicking yarn of slaughtered wildlife, literary superstardom and late-blooming love with his fourth wife, Niso. 'I won't stop writing until I stop breathing,' he promises * Daily Mail *

Read more less

Book SynopsisFor readers of Rachel Cusk, Lisa Taddeo and the essays of Zadie Smith, Bear Woman is a beautifully wrought memoir from one of Sweden's bestselling authorsA beautifully written and astonishing memoir of a woman - a writer - in the midst of motherhood, marriage and life.While struggling with the demands of family and career, the writer discovers a figure from history, Marguerite de la Rocque, a sixteenth-century noblewoman who was abandoned, pregnant, on a remote island in Nova Scotia. When she is finally rescued, her lover and her baby have died, but she has survived this inhospitable wilderness, alone, for two long years. It's a remarkable story of survival, but one that has been consigned to a footnote.Delving deeper into Marguerite's hidden life, the writer begins to question her ability to tell this story, the story of any women in history - or even her own.'The deeply personal journey of a writer, surprising and illuminating, and for me, familiar in the most reassuring way as she loses herself in this compelling story' - Esther Freud, author of Hideous KinkyTrade Review'The deeply personal journey of a writer, surprising and illuminating, and for me, familiar in the most reassuring way as she loses herself in this compelling story' * Esther Freud, author of Hideous Kinky *Ramqvist, in Vogel's translation, is a master of finely observed detail and this book - with a slow-burn obsession at its heart - captivated me. Rarely have I found a book so gentle but enthralling in its telling, so able to distill the subtle turbulence of womanhood, motherhood, and the writer's life. * Jessica J. Lee, author of Two Trees Make a Forest *Ramqvist skillfully blends a story of survival with an autofictional meditation on womanhood ... It adds up to a careful study of a woman's writing life. * Publishers Weekly *Karolina Ramqvist writes with frosty precision the kind of literature that is unforgettable. Her portraits of women hit deep into bone and marrow. * Dorthe Nors on The White City *

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Floor Sample, the author of the international bestseller The Artist's Way weaves an honest and moving portrayal of her life. From her early career as a writer for Rolling Stone magazine and her marriage to Martin Scorsese, to her tortured experiences with alcohol and Hollywood, Julia Cameron reflects in this engaging memoir on the experiences in her life that have fuelled her own art as well as her ability to help others realise their creative dreams. She also describes the fascinating circumstances that led her to emerge as a central figure in the creative recovery movement - a movement that she inaugurated and defined with the publication of her seminal work, The Artist's Way. Julia Cameron is a passionate and wry observer of the world and describes her life as a 'floor sample' for all she teaches in her brilliant books on creativity. Floor Sample is an absorbing literary memoir that will surprise, entertain, and inspire Julia's many fans and win her new admirers.Trade ReviewOn the page, Cameron is compassionate and cajoling, convincing you of your capability and jollying you along with anecdotes about her Hollywood years. -- Elle Hunt * The Guardian *The Artist's Way might be Julia's most famous book, but there is another that is in my opinion even more special: [Floor Sample,] the book you hold in your hands . This is the story behind this incredible woman, how she became who she is. -- Emma GannonAn absorbing narrative revealing a woman of extraordinary energy, drive and confidence. * Kirkus Reviews *A page-turning, richly textured, and wrenching memoir. * Booklist *PRAISE FOR JULIA CAMERON AND THE ARTIST'S WAY * : *Julia Cameron invented the way people renovate the creative soul * The New York Times *Cameron wants you to have a serious think about what you really want from your life * The Times *Morning Pages has become a household name, a shorthand for unlocking your creative potential * Vogue *I absolutely love The Artist's Way ... It's a really good starting point to discover what lights you up -- Emma GannonWithout The Artist's Way, there would have been no Eat, Pray, Love -- Elizabeth GilbertThe book that made a real impact on me is The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. My friend [actress and comedian] Sophie Willan recommended it to me years ago, and I still have it on my desk. It enables anyone to tap into their creative self regardless of themselves - we often get in our own way when trying to achieve. Want to write that novel? That play? This is the book. -- Lemn SissayThe Artist's Way by Julia Cameron is my favourite book -- Precious Lee * Vogue *Cameron's morning pages have shaped the lives of millions of others -- Elle Hunt * The Guardian *

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn intimate glimpse into the life and letters of Rainer Maria Rilke, one of the most important poets of the twentieth century. In July 1921, displaced European poet Rainer Maria Rilke sequestered himself in the chateau of Muzot, a thirteenth-century medieval tower perched in the vineyards above the town of Sierre in the Canton Valais, Switzerland. In this sun-flooded landscape of the Rhone Valley, he found beguiling echoes of Spain and his beloved Provence. Here, the Duino Elegies were famously completed and the Sonnets to Orpheus followed. During this time, Rilke's correspondence also bloomed, and Letters around a Garden collects some of those letters together into English for the first time. One intriguing exchange from 1924 to 1926 was with a young aristocratic Swiss woman Antoinette de Bonstetten, a passionate horticulturist who had been recommended as a potential advisor for the redesign and upkeep of the Muzot rose garden. In twenty-two precious letters originally written

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn 1993, writer and democracy activist Hwang Sok-yong was sentenced to five years in the Seoul Detention Center upon his return to South Korea from North Korea, the country he had fled with his family as a child at the start of the Korean War. Already a dissident writer well-known for his part in the democracy movement of the 1980s, Hwang's imprisonment forced him to consider the many prisons to which he was subject-of thought, of writing, of Cold War nations, of the heart. In this capacious memoir, Hwang's life is set against the volatile political backdrop of modern Korea, a country subject to colonialism, Cold War division, a devastating war, decades of authoritarian dictatorships, a mass democratic uprising, and a still-lingering, painful division between North and South. The Prisoner moves between Hwang's imprisonment and scenes from his life-as a boy in Pyongyang and Seoul, as a young activist protesting South Korea's military dictatorships, as a soldier in the Vietnam War, as a dissident writer first traveling abroad-and in so doing, braids his extraordinary life into the dramatic revolutions and transformations of Korean society during the twentieth century.Trade ReviewHwang Sok-yong is one of the most read Korean writers in his country, and best known abroad. An activist for democracy and reconciliation with the North, in his books he melds his political fights with the Korean cultural imagination. * Le Monde *Reality, fiction and fantasy mix closely, giving his writing unparalleled power. Hwang Sok-yong's empathy for his heroes is always accompanied by a fierce rage against the powerful. * Le Monde Diplomatique *A powerful yet modest and profound meditation on personal responsibility and what a fulfilled life might mean... Yet At Dusk never trips over into nostalgia or sentimentality. Hwang's writing is laced with the hard-won wisdom of a man with plenty left to say. * The Guardian * The Prisoner is also a literary tour de force. Written in the lyrical, elegant style, with powerful acuity and razor-sharp wit that are hallmarks of Sok-Yong's work, it coaxes the reader to savour images, memorable events, and poignant details while also demanding a comprehensive ethical commitment to freedom, justice, and a moral universe."}" data-sheets-userformat="{"2":12993,"3":{"1":0},"9":0,"10":0,"12":0,"15":"Verdana","16":9}" style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana;">This sweeping, epic account is not just a memoir but rather a knowledgeable, sensitive and informed insight into Korea and its neighbours, as well as a complex, nuanced examination of the Cold War, its geopolitical consequences and its human cost. Hwang Sok-yong moves effortlessly between the personal and the political, and the geopolitical, and like his novels, his concerns are both compassionately individual and passionately global. The Prisoner is also a literary tour de force. Written in the lyrical, elegant style, with powerful acuity and razor-sharp wit that are hallmarks of Sok-Yong's work, it coaxes the reader to savour images, memorable events, and poignant details while also demanding a comprehensive ethical commitment to freedom, justice, and a moral universe. -- Sunny SinghHwang Sok-Yong's photographic memory yields vitally important historic testimonies: to the trials of his imprisonment, to life in South as well as North Korea under unchecked power, to the dynamism, humanity, persistence and resilience of artists alone and together against injustice. The Prisoner is an invaluable document, a thorough and eye-opening sweep of the past. Translators Anton Hur and Sora Kim-Russell have done a remarkable job of conveying the political and emotional nuances of language in their source material, and we as grateful readers are all the better for it. -- Khairani BarokkaHwang Sok-yong is Korea's leading political novelist. His new book, The Prisoner, is every bit as riveting and deeply informed is anything he has written. The author has a political sensibility that illuminates a number of important episodes in Korea's recent political history, with one trenchant observation after another about both the North and the South. His harrowing experience as a political prisoner under the South Korean dictatorship leaves an indelible black mark on a regime that the United States supported for 40 years, and that Hwang courageously fought every day of his life until the dictatorship finally collapsed. -- Bruce Cumings, historian at the University of Chicago, and the author of the Korean WarEpic in its scope ... a passionate, detailed memoir. -- Kristine Morris * Foreword Reviews *Page-turning ... By offering the reader a holistic view of his literal and metaphorical imprisonment, Hwang poignantly illustrates what it means to be exiled by politics, geography, language, and emotional ties. -- Thúy Ðinh * NPR Books *Cinematic, riveting, elegiac ... The Prisoner expands Hwang's literary scope, uniting his life experience with the compassionate realism of his later works. * NPR Books *A fascinating account of a life lived for art and campaigns for freedom and justice -- Mark Rappolt * ArtReview *Despite having had not so much as a pen to keep a diary, Hwang recalls the techniques he employed and adaptations he made to endure [the] psychological privations and physical discomforts [of prison] in a remarkably high degree of detail. -- Colin Marshall * Los Angeles Review of Books *

Read more less

Book SynopsisPolitics, religion, culture, travel, science and technology, family life: nothing escaped the eye and pen of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, nineteenth-century America's most famous writer and a legend in his own lifetime. Though chiefly known today for his classic novels of childhood, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, and for his short stories, he produced even more nonfiction of an impressive quality.Twain lived a life as exciting as his fiction, and in his Autobiography we find him running wild, like the heroes of his novels, in the countryside around his childhood home in Missouri and navigating the treacherous waters of the Mississippi River as a trained steamboat pilot, while his letters show him travelling thousands of miles over the United States on hectic lecture tours (he was a great showman, raconteur and performer of his own works), hobnobbing with princes and presidents and being lionized in the capitals of Europe.His trademark wit, candour, sarcasm and irrepressible humour shine through on every page of this selection, but here too, beyond the entertainer, we discover in his speeches and essays the social and moral issues - slavery, imperialism - which concerned him, and meet the private man behind that towering public figure, whose long marriage never lost its romance, but who bore the sorrow of losing two of his three daughters while still in their twenties. A sometimes moving, sometimes hilarious and always riveting read.

Read more less

Book SynopsisTo Aran, I recounts the adventurous journey of a young Welshman, who abandons a promising career and relationships to fulfill his dream of living on Inis Mór, blending farce, poetry, and social observation in a story of personal discovery and ambition.

Read more less

Book Synopsis**WINNER of the 2019 PEN Ackerley Prize**'A major literary talent . . . speaks about the power and powerlessness that young women are subject to in a wholly fresh, clear-eyed way . . . you'll find it hard to come away from The Terrible without a stab of recognition in your chest' Stylist 'You may not run away from the thing that you arebecause it comes and comes and comes as sure as you breathe.'This is the story of Yrsa Daley-Ward, and all the things that happened - 'even the Terrible Things (and God, there were Terrible Things)'. It's about her childhood in the north-west of England with her beautiful, careworn mother and her little brother who sees things written in the stars. It's also about growing up and discovering the power and fear of sexuality, about pitch grey days of pills and powder: going under, losing yourself, and finding your voice. 'Yrsa's work is like holding the truth in your hands' Florence WelchTrade ReviewElegant, daring, profound - confirms her abundant talent as a writer -- Arifa Akbar * Observer *Beautiful and harrowing . . . Daley-Ward writes with disarming honesty * Vogue *A major literary talent . . . speaks about the power and powerlessness that young women are subject to in a wholly fresh, clear-eyed way . . . you'll find it hard to come away from The Terrible without a stab of recognition in your chest * Stylist *Daley-Ward explores the connection between raw emotion and the mechanics of language with more wildness and tenacity than ever * Dazed *A rare combination of literary brilliance, originality of voice and a narrative that commands you to keep going until you've reached the last page . . . her prose is invigorating, razor-sharp and moves at the speed of light . . . Yrsa Daley-Ward is an explosive new talent and this book should not be missed -- Anna van Praagh * Evening Standard *The Terrible's raw yet lilting prose draws the reader in at once. Unpredictable shifts in form and structure - from prose to poetry and script - are refreshingly disorientating. This is both a defiant book and a defiantly inventive one. -- Patricia Yaker Ekall * The Times Literary Supplement *Daley-Ward is a stylish writer, as well as an unusual voice . . . she has a knack for distilling wild emotions into precise imagery, for selecting insightful impressions. -- Francesca Angelini * Sunday Times *Daley-Ward's beautiful prose wrapped its hands around my neck - I found myself doing stupid things like walking through New York at rush hour with my nose buried in her book. -- Jamal Jordan * The New York Times *The Terrible is a lyrical piece of writing that oscillates between prose and poetry . . . Daley-Ward's lines land like dandelion spores, these weightless things that are somehow simultaneously profound -- Una Mullally * Irish Times Magazine *Daley-Ward has cooked a broth of dizzying emotions and touching moments down to a nuanced and taut account . . . there are so many flourishes of imagination and pathos here, that it's impossible not to get caught up in the torrential pace of the narrative . . .the result is one of the year's genuine must reads * Irish Independent *Daley-Ward combines beautifully crafted and deeply personal verse with impressive prose, bending the form of the memoir into her own genre -- Alexander Holmes * Metro *Daley-Ward is twenty-nine years old, but the events of her life more than justify the publication of this unflinching chronicle. -- Patricia Yaker Ekall * The Times Literary Supplement *Daley-Ward is twenty-nine years old, but the events of her life more than justify the publication of this unflinching chronicle. -- Patricia Yaker Ekall * The Times Literary Supplement *

Read more less

Book SynopsisOn the day that A. M. Homes was born in 1961, she was given up for adoption. Her birth parents were a twenty-two year old woman and an older married man with whom she was having an affair. Thirty years later, out of the blue, Homes was contacted by a lawyer on behalf of her birth mother, and they began to correspond; her biological father contacted her soon after. These two individuals and their effect on the adult Homes are strange and unexpected, and the story spirals into something utterly raw and hilarious, heartbreaking and absurd. Along the way, Homes describes the clash between her childhood fantasies of her birth parents and the disappointing reality. She writes about the experience of experiencing biological resemblance for the first time (in 'My Father's Ass') and the addictiveness of the genealogical research she embarks on. She reflects on the significance of DNA testing and having two mothers and two fathers and unearths profound truths about her family and herself. Finally, she writes movingly about her own baby daughter and the way she has recently helped to mend Homes' fractured life.Trade ReviewA compelling, devastating and furiously good book written with an honesty that few of us would risk -- Zadie SmithVeracious words on the complexity and ambiguity of the fractured life of an adopted child. Celebratory and shattering, it will leave you asking yourself, adopted or not, who am I? -- Jamie Lee Curtis

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhen he turned sixty-five, the playwright Simon Gray began to keep a diary: not a careful honing of the day's events with a view to posterity but an account of his thoughts as he had them, honestly, turbulently, digressively expressed. The Smoking Diaries was the result, in which one of Britain's most beloved and original writers reflected on a life filled with cigarettes (continuing), alcohol (stopped), several triumphs and many more disasters, shame, adultery, friendship and love. Few diarists have been as frank about themselves, and even fewer as entertaining.

Read more less

Book Synopsis'During the Tang dynasty, the Chinese artist Wu Tao-tzu was one day standing looking at a mural he had just completed. Suddenly, he clapped his hands and the temple gate opened. He went into his work and the gates closed behind him.' Thus begins Sven Lindqvist's profound meditation on art and its relationship with life, first published in 1967, and a classic in his home country - it has never been out of print. As a young man, Sven Lindqvist was fascinated by the myth of Wu Tao-tzu, and by the possibility of entering a work of art and making it a way of life. He was drawn to artists and writers who shared this vision, especially Hermann Hesse, in his novel Glass Bead Game. Partly inspired by Hesse's work, Lindqvist lived in China for two years, learning classical calligraphy from a master teacher. There he was drawn deeper into the idea of a life of artistic perfectionism and retreat from the world. But when he left China for India and then Afghanistan, and saw the grotesque effects of poverty and extreme inequality, Lindqvist suffered a crisis of confidence and started to question his ideas about complete immersion in art at the expense of a proper engagement with life. The Myth of Wu Tao-tzu takes us on a fascinating journey through a young man's moral awakening and his grappling with profound questions of aesthetics. It contains the bracing moral anger, and poetic, intensely atmospheric travel writing Lindqvist's readers have come to love.

Read more less