Biography: writers Books
Can of Worms Press What Ho P. G. Wodehouse on Childhood
Book Synopsis
£6.99
Harvard University Press Biographical and Autobiographical Writings
Book SynopsisLeon Battista Alberti was among the most famous figures of the Italian Renaissance. Biographical and Autobiographical Writings includes On the Advantages and Disadvantages of Literature, The Life of St. Potitus, My Dog, My Life, and The Fly. It presents the first collected English translations of these works and an authoritative Latin text.
£26.96
Bodleian Library Jane Austen in 41 Objects
Book SynopsisA fascinating insight into the life of one of our best-loved authors through the biographies of objects that crossed her path in life and afterward.
£22.50
Penguin Books Ltd Barkham P Swimmer
Book SynopsisBEST BOOK OF 2023 ACCORDING TO THE NEWSTATESMAN AND OBSERVER''The Swimmer is a wonderful, original achievement; teeming with stories, glittering with images, and experimental in form and tone'' Robert MacfarlaneRoger Deakin, author of the immortal Waterlog, was a man of many parts: maverick ad-man, cider-maker, teacher, environmentalist, music promoter and filmmaker. But, above all, he was the restorer of ancient Walnut Tree Farm in Suffolk, the heartland where he wrote about all natural life with rare attention, intimacy, precision and poetry.Roger Deakin was unique, and so too is this joyful work of creative biography, told primarily in the words of the subject himself, with support from a chorus of friends, family, colleagues and lovers. Delving deep into Deakin's library of words, Patrick Barkham draws from notebooks, diaries, letters and recordings to conjure his voice back to glorious life in these pages.''A rich,
£10.44
Yale University Press The Polymath
Book SynopsisThe remarkable story of Western polymaths from the fifteenth century to the present dayTrade Review “An admirable mixture of industry and erudition.”—Robert Wilson, Wall Street Journal "A few pages at a time about interdisciplinary giants such as Leibniz, Diderot and Germaine de Stael can be energizing."—Michael Dirda, Washington Post"In a mind-stretching history, Peter Burke describes '500 western polymaths' from the half-millennium since Leonardo da Vinci."—Andrew Robinson, Nature.comIncluded in the Financial Times’ round up “2020 visions: the year ahead in books”“This book not only teaches us something important about polymathy's past; it does an excellent job of opening our eyes to polymathy's future too.”—Costica Bradatan, Times Literary Supplement“In a mind-stretching history, Peter Burke describes “500 western polymaths” from the half-millennium since Leonardo da Vinci.”—Andrew Robinson, Nature“[I]t is most welcome to find a great historian, Peter Burke, tackling the history of the intellectual persona who refuses to be stymied by disciplinary boundaries: the ‘polymath’...Burke has compiled a list of five hundred individuals...Given this range, it would be impossible not to find something interesting in this book.”—Dimitri Levitin, Literary Review“As Samuel Johnson said, "All knowledge is of itself of some value. There is nothing so minute or inconsiderable, that I would not rather know it than not." The Polymath dares us to follow Johnson's optimism, making serendipitous connections as we go.”—Peter Chappell, Prospect“The Polymath serves a valuable role as the first modern attempt to categorise and analyse an inherently slippery group of thinkers who are easily missed or seen in only one dimension by other studies….Burke’s work will be an essential starting point for future scholars wishing to explore in more detail the initial outline presented here.”—Kelsey Jackson Williams, Cultural and Social History“A book such as Burke's meets a pressing contemporary need. His minor tour de force of painstakingly assembled erudition deserves to find its way into the hands of everyone, humanists and scientists alike.”—Roger Hausheer, Society“An absorbing and polymathic account of an important intellectual species. This is a significant and timely book, because in illustrating why our culture needs polymaths as well as specialists it prompts us to think afresh about the aims of education and what we need to better inform our public conversation.”—A. C. Grayling“As well as illuminating general patterns, Burke’s polymaths fizz with their own energy, obsessiveness, and life.”—Neil Kenny,author of The Uses of Curiosity in Early Modern France and Germany"The author and his subjects undoubtedly inhabit a shared world, which Burke explains to the rest of us with remarkable insight and understanding, providing both historical depth and remarkable cross-disciplinary breadth.”— Paul Duguid, co-author of The Social Life of Information “In this kaleidoscopic account, Peter Burke unfolds the amazing stories of “monsters of erudition,” tracing the fate of the universal thinker in a world flooding with information.”— Daniel Rosenberg, co-author of Cartographies of Time
£11.99
Pen & Sword Books Ltd Thomas Hardy and the Death of Emma
Book SynopsisIn many of his poems, the great Dorset poet and novelist Thomas Hardy referred to a certain romantic courtship, a marriage which became progressively more problematical, and finally to a bereavement in which a man loses his wife. So, who was Hardy writing about? The clue is to be found in his early poems, where the names of several locations in North Cornwall are mentioned, this being the very same place which featured in Hardy's courtship of Emma Gifford, who was to become his first wife. The poems raise certain questions. Given that Hardy and Emma gradually drifted apart so that in the end they lived mainly separate lives, albeit under the same roof, why was he so grief-stricken when she died, bearing in mind that their marriage was so unsatisfactory?How did Hardy cope as he passed through the various stages of grief, which he articulated so poignantly and expressively in his poems? These stages are recognized today, thanks to the work of Swiss-US psychiatrist, Elisabeth Kübler-Ros
£21.25
Manchester University Press She Played and Sang
Book SynopsisJane Austen, widely acclaimed as one of the greatest English novelists, possessed another talent that enriched her life and work music. She played and sang draws on the music books of the Austen family, granting us a deeper understanding of the writer's artistic prowess and the influences that shaped her literary masterpieces. -- .
£12.99
Pushkin Press The Rigor of Angels
Book SynopsisA poet, a physicist, and a philosopher explore the greatest enigmas of the universe in this scintillatingly original book about the limits of human knowledge
£21.25
Can of Worms Press What Ho P. G. Wodehouse on Fashion
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£6.99
Can of Worms Press What Ho P. G. Wodehouse on Faith
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£6.99
Canongate Books Out of Sheer Rage: In the Shadow of D. H.
Book SynopsisSitting down to write a book about his hero D.H. Lawrence, Geoff Dyer finds himself compelled to write about anything else. He is in fact compelled to do more or less anything else instead of write. In Sicily he is too preoccupied by his hatred of seafood to follow the great writer's footsteps; in Mexico he cannot get beyond a drug-induced erotic fantasy on a nudist beach . . . And yet, incredibly, this attempt to write a 'sober academic study' reveals the hold Lawrence and his work still exert on us today. Out of Sheer Rage is a complete one-off, a richly comic study of the combination of bad temper, procrastination and the uncanny power of obliquity.Trade ReviewAn intriguing, magnetic, genre-rattling book * * The Times * *Marvellous . . . a glorious truant from study . . . gives a better picture of (Lawrence) than any biography I know. -- James Wood * * Guardian * *The kind of book that gives literary criticism a bad name. Hilarious! -- John BergerA masterpiece * * Mail on Sunday * *If there was a prize for the year's funniest book then it would win hands down * * Independent on Sunday * *Quite possibly the best living writer in Britain * * Daily Telegraph * *A national treasure -- Zadie SmithOne of my favourite of all contemporary writers. I love his sense of the absurd, his pessimism mixed with robust good cheer, his beautifully crafted sentences, his jokes and his intelligence. -- Alain de BottonGeoff Dyer is a true original - one of those rare voices in contemporary literature that never ceases to surprise, disturb and delight. Risky, breathtakingly candid, intellectual, cool, outrageous, laconic and sometimes shocking, Geoff Dyer is a must-read for our confused and perplexing times. -- William Boyd[Out of Sheer Rage] gets the full Canongate Canons treatment from its new Edinburgh publishers this month; happy, happy news if ever there was any, O.O.S.R is vintage Dyer, and well worthy of this upgrade to 'modern classic' status. * * Dazed and Confused * *Reading this book is the very opposite of a waste of time. It is an education and a delight * * Guardian * *
£9.49
SelfMadeHero George Sand
Book SynopsisA graphic biography of female novelist George Sand, whose life and work championed women’s rights, gender expression, and sexual liberation. George Sand: True Genius, True Woman is a scrupulously researched and tenderly revealing biography of one of the great pioneering figures of 19th-century French literature. Born in 1804—at a time when women were deprived of their civil rights (along with minors, criminals, and the insane)—Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin grew up to defy those norms, both in her life and her writing. Adopting the gender-neutral pen name George Sand, and in a career lasting over forty years as a novelist and playwright, she is best remembered today for the affairs and friendships she enjoyed with men: the composer Chopin; the painter Delacroix; the novelist Balzac. But this moving biographical portrait, written by award-winner Séverine Vidal and illustrated by Kim Consigny, restores her to the c
£16.14
HarperCollins Publishers The Making of Poetry Shortlisted for the Costa
Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD 2019This is a book of wonders' Sunday TimesSpellbinding and intelligent' Financial TimesExtraordinary and engrossing' SpectatorIt was the most extraordinary year. In a book brimming with poetry and nature writing, biography and adventure, Adam Nicolson walks in the footsteps of Coleridge, Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy during the months in the late 1790s they spent together in the Quantock Hills.Out of it came The Ancient Mariner, Kubla Khan', Lyrical Ballads and Tintern Abbey'; Coleridge's unmatched hymns to friendship and fatherhood; Wordsworth's revolutionary verses and paeans to the unity of soul and cosmos, love and understanding. In short, a poetry that sought to remake the world.Trade Review‘Dazzling … Before I read this book I was something of a Wordsworth-sceptic. But Nicolson is one of the most persuasive advocates of his genius I have read. The Making of Poetry brings the poetry to life, but also the countryside … It has paid off brilliantly. He is helped along by Tom Hammick’s beautiful illustrations.’ The Times ‘Brilliant … Adam Nicolson has shown us, in this subtle and masterly book, the cost of the making of poetry’ New Statesman ‘The perfect marriage … Poetry and place are perfectly braided together in prose whose biographical mood pays tribute to Richard Holmes and whose topographical fervour evokes Robert Macfarlane.’ Observer ‘Adam Nicolson takes us deeper into this extraordinary time and place, and these explosive young minds, than ever before in his captivating book … It is intensely moving and thrilling.’ Evening Standard “Spellbinding … The Making of Poetry is an excitingly new kind of literary book … One of the most imaginative and luminously intelligent books about poetry I have read’ Financial Times ‘Sublime … Nicolson’s prose swoops and sings all over the landscape; his poets’ embeddings in nature and interconnections of thought are richly evoked, and his enjoyment of their journey into understanding is utterly infectious.’ Sunday Times ‘A fabulous book! Passionate, original, intensely personal, and thrillingly observant … It will have terrific impact. …Completely captivating. It is also truly moving. Above all, he is fascinating on the central relationship between Coleridge and Wordsworth.’ Richard Holmes ‘One of the most beautiful books I’ve seen’ Spectator ‘I started underlining particularly beautiful passages, but soon realised that I would end up underlining virtually the whole book’ Mail on Sunday
£10.44
Vintage Publishing The Story of Alice Lewis Carroll and The Secret
Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2015 COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARDThis is the secret history of Alice''s Adventures in Wonderland.Wonderland is part of our cultural heritage. But beneath the fairy tale lies the complex history of the author and his subject. Charles Dodgson was a quiet academic but his second self, Lewis Carroll, was a storyteller, innovator and avid collector of child-friends'. Carroll's imagination was to give Alice Liddell, his ''dream-child'', a fictional alter ego that would never let her grow up. This is a biography that beautifully unravels the magic of Alice. It is a history of love and loss, innocence and ambiguity. It is the story of one man's need to make a Wonderland in a changing world.Trade ReviewIt is the ultimate book about Alice - comprehensive and scholarly, but so delightfully and elegantly written that it's a true work of literature -- Jacqueline WilsonThe Story of Alice is the best book on the myriad enigmas of Carroll’s heart-breaking wonderland I have ever read -- Robert McCrum * Observer *Superb…toweringly the best of the dozens of books on Carroll which I have read -- AN Wilson * Financial Times *Douglas-Fairhurst is a startling and exciting writer -- A.S. Byatt * Spectator *This is biography at its best -- Lyndall Gordon * New Statesman *
£11.69
Manchester University Press Mrs Dalloway
Book SynopsisMrs Dalloway: Biography of a novel offers readers new to Virginia Woolf a lively introduction to this timeless classic, while providing established lovers with a wealth of information about the novel's writing, publication and reception. -- .
£18.04
Reaktion Books Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo (1802-85) is an icon of French culture. He achieved immense success as a poet, dramatist, and novelist, and he was also elected to both houses of the French Parliament. Leading the Romantic campaign against artistic tradition and defying the Second Empire in exile, he became synonymous with the progressive ideals of the French Revolution. His state funeral in Paris made headlines across the world, and his breadth of appeal remains evident today, not least thanks to the popularity of his bestseller, Les Mis rables, and its myriad theatrical and cinematic incarnations.This biography, the first in English for over twenty years, provides a concise but comprehensive exploration of Hugo's monumental body of work within the context of his dramatic life. Hugo wrestled with family tragedy and personal misgivings while being pulled into the turmoil of the nineteenth century, from the fall of Napoleon's Empire to the rise of France's Third Republic. Throughout these twists of fate, he sensed a natural order of collapse and renewal. This unending cycle of creation shaped his ideas about freedom and roused his imagination, which he channeled into his prolific writing and other outlets like drawing. As Bradley Stephens argues, such creative intellectual vigor suggests that Hugo was too restless to sit comfortably on the pedestal of literary greatness; Hugo's was a mind as revolutionary as the time in which he lived.
£12.34
Quercus Publishing The Novel Life of Jane Austen
Book SynopsisA graphic memoir exploring the life of Jane Austen, written by renowned Austen expert Professor Janine Barchas and bestselling graphic novelist Isabel Greenberg.
£17.00
HarperCollins Publishers The Green Lady A Spirit A Story A Place
Book SynopsisFrom the critically acclaimed author Sally Bayley, The Green Lady is a poignant, brilliant exploration of the relationships between children and their teachers.In the style of her memoir Girl with Dove, this book explores a child's search for artistic education and a sense of self. Lyrical and playful, Sally Bayley's writing transports the reader into an eccentric world of teachers, guardians and guiding spirits of place.Moved by her female teachers, and guided by the artist J.M.W. Turner, Bayley's protagonist goes in search of her maternal ancestors, in particular her grandmother, Edna May Turner. Following the narratives of other women in history who have taken different routes to independence and artistic freedom including the educational suffragist Mary Neal, actress Margaret Rutherford, and poet Stevie Smith Bayley considers the paths to happiness and the limitations social convention imposes.Part novel, part memoir, The Green Lady continues the traditions of Virginia Woolf's OrTrade Review EARLY PRAISE FOR THE GREEN LADY: ‘Sally Bayley’s The Green Lady is a beguiling, experimental mixture of biography, fiction and family history…The prose is glancing and poetic, suffused with gentle melancholy, yet bursting with connections that anticipate, tease and delight… There is much here of art and literature as succour for the soul, and this charming, original and poignant book shines with intellectual and imaginative fire’ SPECTATOR ‘With each new book, Sally Bayley seems to invent a new literary genre. The Green Lady is another bulletin from her unique imagination – a marvel of formal originality and verbal ingenuity. There is no other writer remotely like her’ MATT ROWLAND HILL, author of Original Sins ‘In a beguiling blend of memoir and storytelling, the author of Girl with Dove and No Boys Play Here explores the relationship between children and their teachers, and the sustaining power of literature, especially for those growing up in poverty or dealing with neglect and abuse. In search of a better plot, Bayley’s protagonist seeks out her maternal ancestors, and other women in history who have paved a path to independence, happiness and artistic freedom in a space of one’s own. No one writes quite like Bayley—she’s a true, precious original’ CAROLINE SANDERSON, The Bookseller ‘A unique piece of writing which is enthralling and leaves one tasting the salt air of nostalgia. The reader delights in her word play, her deftness and playfulness, painterly and yet essentially three dimensional: a living canvas which is a feat of magic and alchemy’ Pratima Mitchell
£15.29
Oxford University Press The Grasmere and Alfoxden Journals
Book Synopsis''I went & sat with W & walked backwards & forwards in the Orchard till dinner time - he read me his poem. I broiled Beefsteaks.''Dorothy Wordsworth''s journals are a unique record of her life with her brother William, at the time when he was at the height of his poetic powers. Invaluable for the insight they give into the daily life of the poet and his friendship with Coleridge, they are also remarkable for their spontaneity and immediacy, and for the vivid descriptions of people, places, and incidents that inspired some of Wordsworth''s best-loved poems. The Grasmere Journal was begun at Dove Cottage in May 1800 and kept for three years. Dorothy notes the walks and the weather, the friends, country neighbours and beggars on the roads; she sets down accounts of the garden, of Wordsworth''s marriage, their concern for Coleridge, the composition of poetry. The earlier Alfoxden Journal was written during 1797-8, when the Wordsworths lived near Coleridge in Somerset .Not intended for publication, but to ''give Wm Pleasure by it'', both journals have a quality recognized by Wordsworth when he wrote of Dorothy that ''she gave me eyes, she gave me ears''.This edition brings the reader closer to the hurried flow of Dorothy''s writing and includes rich explanatory notes about the places and people described in the journals. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
£9.49
Vintage Publishing Take Courage: Anne Bronte and the Art of Life
Book Synopsis'I was wowed and moved' Tracy Chevalier Anne Brontë is the forgotten Brontë sister, overshadowed by her older siblings - virtuous, successful Charlotte, free-spirited Emily and dissolute Branwell. Tragic, virginal, sweet, stoic, selfless, Anne. The less talented Brontë, the other Brontë. Take Courage is Samantha's personal, poignant and surprising journey into the life and work of a woman sidelined by history. A brave, strongly feminist writer well ahead of her time - and her more celebrated siblings - and who has much to teach us today about how to find our way in the world.Trade ReviewI thought that everything had already been said about the Brontës. But Samantha Ellis has looked at the family from a new angle, and in doing so brought Anne out of the shadows and placed her front and centre amongst her splashier siblings. I was wowed and moved -- Tracy ChevalierA lively, intelligent tribute to the forgotten Bronte sister, Anne… Her indignation is salutary -- Lucy Hughes-Hallet * Observer *A fascinating and compelling read... what Ellis does extraordinarily well is to convey the emotion of her own deeply personal voyage of discovery about Anne and herself... [makes] you long to rush off and reread Anne's novels and poetry: what more could you ask for? -- Juliet Barker * Mail on Sunday *This is a very personal book about what the short life of Anne Bronte can tell us about wringing every drop out of existence… A great pleasure to read and a more fitting tribute to Anne than her gravestone in Scarborough. -- Daisy Goodwin * The Times *A lovely and imaginative investigation into a serious and searching woman whose last words were "take courage". It's inspiring stuff -- Eithne Farry * Sunday Express *
£9.49
Luath Press Ltd Already, Too Late: a boyhood memoir
Book SynopsisIn post-war Glasgow a primary school class was set a composition topic: a memorable family event. Each child completed the assignment – all, that is, but one. Why didn’t you write about your family?Please, miss. I didn’t, I didn’t know what to write.But now, he does.In Already, Too Late, Carl MacDougall, one of Scotland’s most accomplished and celebrated literary writers, presents a memoir of extraordinary authenticity and honesty.This memoir takes us through MacDougall’s upbringing, both in and out of care on the west coast of Scotland, Fife, and industrial Glasgow, during the first decade of his life.Within this world, now teetering on the brink of our collective memory, sits a single-parent household of German descent; money is tight, trauma roams free and tragedy comes calling again and again.Through a powerful mosaic of stories, MacDougall strips away all rose-tinted sentimentality to create a vivid account of heart-break, dissociation and loss.Already, Too Late is the early life of an outsider looking in, a changeling child, displaced, alone, and – in his own grandmother’s words – ‘no right’. Because for some, even the very beginning is already too late.Trade ReviewLyrical, richly detailed and full of gentle humour, Already, Too Late is a wonderful book. SUSAN FLOCKHART, The Herald...the sheer accomplishment of the storytelling and the lively variety of writing styles make it a compelling read. – DAILY MAILA towering figure... has lost none of his distinctive style or ability to shock... MacDougall creates a complex world over a dozen deftly crafted pages... [a] masterful collection. – SCOTSMANThe towering voice of Scottish literature returns with this stunning collection... told without melodrama, with MacDougall's cleanly-written prose... This is a triumphant return to fiction after an absence of a decade for this award-winning writer. – SCOTTISH FIELDBrutal but brilliant. – HERALDCarl MacDougall's new collection is brimming with the qualities we've come to expect from this important Scottish writer: beautiful writing, real people, poignant and wounded like us, rich emotional wisdom, and a lovely wit. – ANNE LAMOTTThis novel… sets Carl MacDougall firmly among the pantheon of Kelman and Gray… sparkling and exhilarating… wise and, above all, entertaining – SCOTLAND ON SUNDAYA masterpiece… one of the great Scottish novels of this century – SPECTATORCarl is a hero of mine… a great storyteller – BILLY CONNOLLY
£13.49
Little Toller Books My House of Sky: A Life of J A Baker
Book SynopsisSince his rise to fame in 1967 when his work "The Peregrine" was awarded the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize, J A Baker has captured the popular imagination with his vivid descriptions of British landscapes and native wildlife. Compelling, strange and at times both startlingly funny and cruel, Baker's prose is at one with his image as a writer, which has, since the publication of his first work, been characterized as an obsessive recluse.Next to nothing was known about Baker, who died in 1987, until an archive of his materials and those related to him was gifted to the University of Essex in 2013. Only now has it been possible to piece together an accurate view of the life and unpublished work of the man whose writing has been described as "the gold standard for all nature writing" (Mark Cocker), and whose work has influenced naturalists such as Richard Mabey and Simon King, as well as film-makers David Cobham and Werner Herzog.This new book showcases the most compelling parts of the Baker Archive, containing previously unknown elements of his life, many photographs and unpublished poems.It provides an invaluable new insight into both his sensitive and passionate character, and late twentieth century Britian, a country experiencing the throes of agricultural and environmental change.
£17.00
Can of Worms Press What Ho P. G. Wodehouse on Sport
Book Synopsis
£6.99
Hermits United A Scholars Life
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£18.04
Hermits United Fou Lei
Book SynopsisThe tragic conscience of modern China's most revered critic-translator is portrayed in this biography. Discoveries made in Parisian archives by the biographer illuminate Fou Lei's youthful journey, a little-known cross-cultural story; a global intellectual history. This edition is a revised version of Fou Lei: An Insistence on Truth.
£23.79
National Portrait Gallery Publications Writers Revealed
Book SynopsisWriters Revealed tells the stories of the best-loved writers in English literature, investigating their enduring appeal from the sixteenth century to today through the collections of the National Portrait Gallery and the British Library. Intimate handwritten manuscripts, letters and notebooks as well as rare first editions of books from the British Library are paired with the National Portrait Gallery's outstanding collection of author portraits. From William Shakespeare to Zadie Smith, Writers Revealed features over 70 poets, novelists and academics. Each short profile which provides insight into the writers' inspirations, struggles, and working practices is beautifully illustrated with a portrait and manuscript. Readers will enjoy in-depth encounters with some of the world's most famous writers, including James Joyce, Bernardine Evaristo, Virginia Woolf, Bram Stoker, Jane Austen, Benjamin Zephaniah, and Angela Carter, and discover just what it is that makes these individuals so endlessly compelling.
£21.21
HarperCollins Publishers Shakespeare The World as a Stage
Book SynopsisBill Bryson's biography of William Shakespeare unravels the superstitions, academic discoveries and myths surrounding the life of our greatest poet and playwright.Ever since he took the theatre of Elizabethan London by storm over 400 years ago, Shakespeare has remained centre stage. His fame stems not only from his plays performed everywhere from school halls to the world''s most illustrious theatres but also from his enigmatic persona. His face is familiar to all, yet in reality very little is known about the man behind the masterpieces.Shakespeare's life, despite the scrutiny of generations of biographers and scholars, is still a thicket of myths and traditions, some preposterous, some conflicting, arranged around the few scant facts known about the Bard from his birth in Stratford to the bequest of his second best bed to his wife when he died.Taking us on a journey through the streets of Elizabethan and Jacobean England, Bryson examines centuries of stories, half-truths and downrTrade Review'A brilliantly funny and gently insightful travel guide to 16th century England. Bryson is great at picking out of the morass of Elizabethan fact the small details that illuminate and amuse…he also uncovers from the world that surrounded the theatre some fascinating examples of Elizabethan eccentricity…As an abbreviated tour around the world of Shakespeare, this could hardly be bettered' Sunday Times 'Less a biography than a delightful account of Shakespeare's elusiveness – and the extraordinary lengths people have gone to remedy it…the pairing of Bryson with Shakespeare is a happy on.’ TLS 'Bill Bryson jogs along in his own ineffable way, good–humoured, undoctrinaire, nodding respectfully at experts but confidently following his own inclinations…he is shrewd on telling detail’ Times ‘Bill Bryson has always been able to spot a market; and there ought to be a market for his latest book…an accessible, sensible Life of Shakespeare…surely a fine gift for someone encountering Shakespeare for the first time…Bryson is shrewd…and as funny as you'd expect…he sets down all the important bits of evidence, and assesses them in a measured scholarly way. He's good value too.’ Daily Telegraph ‘Measured, sensible and, at times, as wryly humorous as you'd expect’ Times ‘Bryson uses an inimitably light touch and squeezes a vast subject down to manageable proportions…he is a warm and funny guide through the whole complicated morass of Shakespearean scholarship’ Financial Times
£9.49
Pan Macmillan A Fortunate Woman: A Country Doctor’s Story - The
Book SynopsisShortlisted for the Baillie Gifford PrizeThe Top Ten BestsellerWaterstones Non-Fiction Book of the MonthA Sunday Times Paperback of the Year ‘If you want to read a book that moves you both at the level of sentence and the quality of language and with the emotional depth of its subject matter, then A Fortunate Woman is definitely the book you should be reading’ - Samanth Subramanian, Baillie Gifford judgeWhen Polly Morland is clearing out her mother’s house she finds a book that will lead her to a remarkable figure living on her own doorstep: the country doctor who works in the same remote, wooded valley she has lived in for many years. This doctor is a rarity in contemporary medicine – she knows her patients inside out, and their stories are deeply entwined with her own.In A Fortunate Woman, with its beautiful photographs by Richard Baker, Polly Morland has written a profoundly moving love letter to a landscape, a community and, above all, to what it means to be a good doctor.‘Morland writes about nature and the changing landscape with such lyrical precision that her prose sometimes seems close to poetry’ - Christina Patterson, The Sunday Times‘Timely . . . compelling . . . a delicately drawn miniature’ - Financial Times‘This book deepens our understanding of the life and thoughts of a modern doctor, and the modern NHS, and it expands movingly to chronicle a community and a landscape’ - Kathleen Jamie, New StatesmanTrade ReviewMorland writes about nature and the changing landscape with such lyrical precision that her prose sometimes seems close to poetry . . . There has been no shortage in recent years of books about healthcare . . . With this gem, Morland has done something similar for general practice. Let’s just hope the policymakers listen. -- Christina Patterson * Sunday Times *The doctor's kindly, holistic approach - she makes time to investigate her patients' social as well as physical needs - seems to evoke a lost world . . . Morland's book contains a profound message for the future at a critical moment for general practice and us all. -- Wendy Moore * TLS *This book deepens our understanding of the life and thoughts of a modern doctor, and the modern NHS, and it expands movingly to chronicle a community and a landscape – “the valley” itself is a defining feature of people’s lives. -- Kathleen Jamie * New Statesman *Polly Morland and Richard Baker have more than done justice to the original John Berger book - and produced a work that stimulates the eye and mind in equal measure. -- Alain de BottonI was consoled and compelled by this book’s steady gaze on healing and caring. The writing is beautiful. -- Sarah Moss, author of Summerwater and Ghost WallSuperb - beautiful, enthralling, careful, tender, a humanitarian act in itself, deeply moral, moving, lucid and loving. -- Laura Cumming, James Tait Black-winner and bestselling Costa-shortlisted author of The Vanishing Man and On Chapel SandsAll human life is here in this evocative portrayal of the challenges and joys of rural family doctoring in modern times. Enthralling and uplifting. -- James LeFanu, author The Rise & Fall of Modern MedicineA Fortunate Woman is the best book I’ve read about general practice for a long time. Astonishingly perceptive, it shows how a committed GP can keep human values alive in an increasingly impersonal NHS – and why we urgently need more like her. -- Professor Roger Neighbour OBE. Past President, Royal College of General PractitionersA vibrant and authentic portrait of the rural family doctor in these difficult contemporary times. -- Trisha Greenhalgh, Professor of Primary Care at the University of OxfordOne of the best books about medicine that I have read. The patients' stories are vivid, moving, often unforgettable. Polly Morland has written with incredible sensitivity, appreciation and descriptive ability about the valley and the people who live there -- Professor Roger Jones OBEA Fortunate Woman is grounded in a legacy of care and compassion for the community served, shared though a compelling narrative based on patient stories. I loved it. -- Prof Dame Helen Stokes-LampardI thought it was stunning in style and content and I hope it encourages all readers to reflect on what I agree is your key message – the importance of relationship-base care and the fact that it is under threat. -- Professor Martin Marshall, Chair of the Royal College of General PractitionersBeautifully and tenderly written, [A Fortunate Woman] also serves as a topical reminder of what is possible with continuity of care. -- Caroline Sanderson, 'Editor's Choice' * Bookseller *
£9.49
Yale University Press James Baldwin
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£17.00
Faber & Faber The Waste Land
Book Synopsis** Chosen as a New Statesman, Financial Times, Observer and Sunday Times Book of the Year **A riveting account of the making of T. S. Eliot's celebrated poem The Waste Land on its centenary.A rattling good story' Sunday TelegraphA work of art' Times Literary SupplementThe Waste Land has been called the World's Greatest Poem'. It has been labelled the most truthful poem of its time; it has been branded a masterful fake. More than a century after its publication in 1922, T. S. Eliot's enigmatic masterpiece remains one of the most influential works ever written.In a remarkable feat of biography, Matthew Hollis reconstructs the creation of the poem and brings the material reality of its charged times vividly to life. He reveals the cultural and personal trauma that forged The Waste Land through the lives of its protagonists Ezra Pound, who edited it; Viv
£11.69
Faber & Faber Thom Gunn A Cool Queer Life
Book Synopsis
£22.50
Biteback Publishing A Duel of Bulls
Book SynopsisA Duel of Bulls is the untold story of the contentious friendship that existed between Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles, set against the backdrop of Spain, the history of bullfighting, and the Spanish Civil War.
£17.00
Leapfrog Press Pelham Grenville Wodehouse - Volume 2: Mid-Season
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£13.49
Leapfrog Press Pelham Grenville Wodehouse - Volume 3: The
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£13.49
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Macintyre B For Your Eyes Only
Book SynopsisThe official book on Ian Fleming and James Bond by the bestselling author of Agent ZigzagTrade Review'A marvellously entertaining and informative book ... deserves to fly off the shelves every bit as quickly as Devil May Care' Spectator 'Thrilling' Sunday Times 'Everything that makes Bond interesting with relation to the real world, in fact, is explored here. Ben Macintyre's skill, in this entertaining mix of history, espionage, biography, and post-war sociology, is to make you see clearly where Ian Fleming's world ended and the fantasy of James Bond began' Tom Fleming, Literary Review 'Fleming, a journalist like Macintyre, would have approved of Macintyre's fast, witty and informative style, and this is the perfect starting place for anyone wanting to find out more about Bond and his creator' Mail on Sunday
£10.44
Yale University Press Jane Austens Wardrobe
Book SynopsisHilary Davidson delves into the clothing of one of the world’s great authors, providing unique and intimate insight into her everyday life and material worldTrade Review“[A] charming book, which examines what Austen actually wore on the evidence of voluminous letters exchanged with her sister Cassandra whenever they were separated. . . . A delightful companion.”—Maev Kennedy, Art Newspaper “This lavishly illustrated book offers readers a unique peek into the clothes worn by celebrated Regency author Jane Austen.”—History Revealed “Davidson’s engaging and illuminating study portrays a household in which appearances are important but budgets tight. . . . Nothing I have read has brought Austen so close.”—Rosemary Goring, The Herald “It’s by [an] evocation of the everyday real world that Jane Austen’s Wardrobe triumphs (that and its magnificent production values—the design is appropriately sumptuous). We turn these pages watching one of the world’s greatest novelists manage her appearance and sort out what she’ll wear day by day and what she’ll pay for it. . . . It’s captivating, particularly with [Davidson’s] historical insight as a guide.”—Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Review “Rakewell is looking forward to the publication of Jane Austen’s Wardrobe by Hilary Davidson (Yale University Press).”—Rakewell column, Apollo Magazine “As gripping as a corset, this superb book is a must-read for Austen lovers and scholars.”—Philippa Stockley, The Oldie “A visual feast, as well as offering insight into Austen’s fabled attention to the minutiae of her own social class. It also sends a message to the modern [over] consumer.”—Jacqueline Riding, Country Life “[Davidson’s] book provides significantly more detail than is generally known about any individual wardrobe. . . . It provides as close to a comprehensive look at her wardrobe as is possible.”—Cassidy Percoco, History Today "go forth and read" —YouTuber and author Bernadette Banner “An intriguing and wholly original approach to Jane Austen. . . . A most delightful book and a must for every Austen reader.”—Claire Tomalin, author of Jane Austen: A Life “The definitive compendium of Jane Austen’s clothes, recreated from fragments, by an acknowledged mistress of the field. Open the book, the author invites, as you might a chest of drawers, to find anything but a dowdy spinster.”—Amanda Vickery, author of Behind Closed Doors “This gorgeously illustrated volume from the world’s leading expert on the fashion of the Regency era lifts the skirts on Jane Austen’s wardrobe.”—Paula Byrne, author of The Real Jane Austen “Hugely enjoyable, charmingly illustrated and beautifully produced, a book to linger over and which, moreover, sheds light on just how seriously Jane Austen took fashion.”—Claire Wilcox, author of Patch Work
£23.75
Pan Macmillan The Wonderful World of James Herriot
Book SynopsisJames Herriot (19161995) was the pen name of James Alfred Alf' Wight, whose tales of veterinary practice and country life in the Yorkshire Dales have delighted generations. Many of Herriot's works including All Creatures Great and Small, All Things Bright and Beautiful, All Things Wise and Wonderful, The Lord God Made Them All and Every Living Thing became international bestsellers and have been adapted for film and television.Rosie Page and Jim Wight are Herriot's children. Rosie became a doctor and Jim was a vet.Trade ReviewIt cleverly interweaves extracts from his novels, with an interesting commentary from his son and daughter . . . their memories and anecdotes augment the stories and make delightful reading * Yorkshire Times *I grew up reading James Herriot's books and I'm delighted that thirty years on, they are still every bit as charming, heartwarming and laugh-out-loud funny as they were then -- Kate Humble, on the works of James HerriotHerriot’s enchanting tales of life in the Dales are deservedly classics. Full of extraordinary characters, animal and human, the books never fail to delight -- Amanda Owen, bestselling author of The Yorkshire Shepherdess, on the works on James HerriotThe attraction of Herriot’s ever popular memoirs of a country vet . . . is their alternating highs and lows, humour and pathos, and gripping anecdotes about delivering lambs, grumpy farmers, hypochondriac pet-owners, stroppy cows and blunt Yorkshire characters. And, of course, there’s a powerful nostalgia element in these stories about our green and pleasant land in the day before the ravages of ribbon development -- Daily Mail, on the works of James Herriot
£10.44
Headline Publishing Group The Little Book of J.R.R. Tolkien: Wit and Wisdom
Book SynopsisA renowned scholar of the English language, Tolkien is today celebrated as the father of the high fantasy genre. Drawing on his knowledge of languages, mythology and legend, he created an entire alternative reality, Middle Earth, and populated it with hobbits, orcs, ents, dragons, magicians and giant spiders.Packed with fascinating facts about Tolkien's life and labours, this delightful volume includes extracts from his works, letters and interviews, as well as from his contemporaries and admirers. It's a celebration of the writer whose imagination and creative genius changed the course of fantasy literature.'I would rather spend one lifetime with you, than face all the ages of this world alone.' The Fellowship of the Ring (1954)'I am in fact a Hobbit (in all but size). I like gardens, trees and unmechanized farmlands; I smoke a pipe, and like good plain food (unrefrigerated), but detest French cooking...' Tolkien in a letter to Deborah Webster, 25 October 1958In July 1915, Tolkien took part in the Somme offensive, the bloodiest battle of the Great War. While recovering in hospital from trench fever, he wrote his first Elvish word list, as well as the first fragments of what would become The Silmarillion.The inspiration for The Hobbit came to Tolkien unexpectedly in the summer of 1930, while he was working his way through a huge stack of student essays. On a blank page he found himself scrawling, 'In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.'Table of ContentsTolkien the Man and the Hobbit • Languages • Storyteller • Fantasy Worlds and Fables • Ents and Elves • Tolkien's Legacy
£7.44
Quarto Publishing PLC The Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien
Book Synopsis“Every page brings forth the elegiac tone of JRR Tolkien’s work... It is a beautiful book, including many wonderful pictures by Tolkien himself… Garth’s book made me realise the impact that Tolkien has had on my life.”The Times A lavishly illustrated exploration of the places that inspired and shaped the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, creator of Middle-earth. This new book from renowned expert John Garth takes us to the places that inspired J.R.R. Tolkien to create his fictional locations in The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and other classic works. Featuring more than 100 images, it includes Tolkien’s own illustrations, contributions from other artists, archive images, maps and spectacular present-day photographs. Inspirational locations range across Great Britain – particularly Tolkien’s beloved West Midlands and Oxford – but also oveTrade Review“Not only a wonderfully rich & learned book but beautiful as well. I’m sure Tolkien would have loved it.” -- Tom Holland * Award-winning historian, author and broadcaster *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. England to the Shire 2. Four Winds 3. The Land of Lúthien 4. Shore and the Sea 5. Roots of the Mountains 6. Rivers, Lakes and Waterlands 7. Tree-woven Lands 8. Ancient Imprints 9. Watch and Ward 10. Places of War 11. Craft and Industry Appendix Endnotes Select Bibliography Index Acknowledgements
£16.14
Penguin Books Ltd Survival is a Promise
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£12.34
Oxford University Press The Lives of the Poets
Book SynopsisThe Lives of the Poets is one of the greatest works of English criticism, but also one of the most diverting. This is the only one-volume paperback edition to make available Johnson's most substantial Lives in unabridged form. Texts are drawn from Roger Lonsdale's authoritative complete edition, and introduced by John Mullan.Trade ReviewIt's fascinating...a mightily entertaining survey of literature and literati. * Sunday Telegraph *The 'Lives of the Poets', combining mournfully droll biography with brilliant literary criticism, is as enjoyable as anything he wrote. * John Mullan, Saturday Guardian *Table of ContentsCowley ; Milton ; Rochester ; Dryden ; Congreve ; Gay ; Savage ; Swift ; Pope ; Gray
£12.59
Picador USA Love and Need
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£17.40
Hodder & Stoughton Strange Relations
Book Synopsis''Remarkable... entertaining... deft... moving... refreshing''Daily Telegraph''A richly rewarding account of a resonant cultural moment''Guardian''Textured literary portraits of the masculine mind and body''Raymond Antrobus, author of The PerseveranceIn October 1960, James Baldwin and John Cheever spoke on a panel together at San Francisco State College. The troubled state of American society was under discussion, which Baldwin incisively diagnosed as a ''failure of the masculine sensibility''. Strange Relations explores this crisis in mid-century masculinity and the lives and works of four bisexual writers who fought to express and embody alternate possibilities. Building on Walt Whitman''s philosophy of the love between men, Ralf Webb considers the ways in which Tennessee Williams and Carson McCullers, as well as Cheever and Baldwin, resisted in their art, as we
£17.00
Biteback Publishing Jane Austen and George Eliot
Book SynopsisPacked with quotes from letters, diaries and the nation's favourite novels, Jane Austen and George Eliot: The Lady and the Radical is a lively, accessible and fascinating history of two genius novelists, the world that shaped them, and the works they left behind.
£17.00
Canongate Books The Trip to Echo Spring: On Writers and Drinking
Book SynopsisWhy were so many authors of the greatest works of literature consumed by alcoholism? In The Trip to Echo Spring, Olivia Laing takes a journey across America, examining the links between creativity and drink in the overlapping work and lives of six extraordinary men: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, John Berryman, John Cheever and Raymond Carver. From Hemingway's Key West to Williams's New Orleans, Laing pieces together a topographical map of alcoholism, and strips away the tangle of mythology to reveal the terrible price creativity can exert.Trade ReviewOne of the best books I've read about the creative uses of adversity: frightening but perversely inspiring -- HILARY MANTELA work of art, with a voice and a mood all its own. * * Nick Hornby * *Original, brave and very moving . . . Her insights shine with beauty yet are shaded by sympathy and compassion * * Observer * *A terrific writer * * The Times * *Full of insight, compassion and unexpected beauty * * Guardian * *Haunting . . . a moving, troubling, gorgeously written book * * Independent on Sunday, Paperbacks of the Year * *Beguiling, beautifully written . . . brilliant and original -- JOHN CAREY * * The Sunday Times * *Beguiling and incisive * * New York Times * *Laing's prose is lucid and exuberant * * Financial Times * *Laing is a brilliant wordsmith and this is a beautifully accomplished book * * Independent * *
£10.44
Batsford Ltd The Illustrated letters of Oscar Wilde: A Life in
Book Synopsis"I don't regret for a single moment having lived for pleasure. I did it to the full, as one should do anything one does. I lived on honeycomb." Oscar Wilde Although it is over 120 years since his infamous trial for indecency, Oscar Wilde has never held greater fascination for us. This packed illustrated biography tells the life of Oscar Wilde through his own words – private letters, poems, plays, stories and legendary witticisms. It includes his relationships with key artists and writers of the time, including John Ruskin, Charles Ricketts, and Lillie Langtry. It is illustrated throughout with paintings, engravings, contemporary photographs, cartoons and caricatures of Wilde and his social circle. With illustrations and paintings by Aubrey Beardsley, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, James Whistler and Max Beerbohm, it is a beautiful evocation of the glittering fin de siecle word by its most fascinating wordsmith and aesthete. The book details Wilde's ruin after the trial and its outcome. The profundity of his writing from prison and exile form an epitaph, not only to his own life, but also for the era that carelessly delighted in it.
£15.29
John Murray Press Blythe Spirit
Book Synopsis''An intimate and insightful portrait of the peerless observer of rural life'' RICHARD MABEY''Moving, candid, vivid, it is all that we could hope for in a memoir of this unique and treasured writer'' ROWAN WILLIAMS''As a boy I dreamed of scholars and saints wandering around markets and cornfields, and of artists and poets sitting under the trees.''Ronald Blythe (1922-2023), author of the inimitable Akenfield, was a prolific and poetic chronicler of rural and spiritual life, nature and literature. He spent a joyful century close to his Suffolk roots, time travelling in his imagination and publishing forty books and thousands of essays. His wide creative network included John and Christine Nash, Cedric Morris, Benjamin Britten, E. M. Forster, Patricia Highsmith and Richard Mabey.From finding Thomas Hardy in February rain and John Clare in country tracks, to talking to his white cat and reading through a dragonfly''s wings, th
£21.25
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Goethe
Book SynopsisGoethe remains one of the most influential figures in modern literature and thought. Goethe was the inventor of the psychological novel, a pioneer scientist, great man of the theatre and a leading politician. As A. N. Wilson argues in this groundbreaking biography, it was his genius and insatiable curiosity that helped catapult the Western world into the modern era. A N. Wilson tackles the life of Goethe with characteristic wit and verve. From his youth as a wild literary prodigy to his later years as Germany's most respected elder statesman, Wilson hones in on Goethe's undying obsession with the work he would spend his entire life writing Faust. Goethe spent over 60 years writing his retelling of Faust, a strange and powerful work that absorbed all the philosophical questions of his time as well as the revolutions and empires that came and went. It is his greatest work, but as Wilson explores, it is also something much more - it is the myth of how w
£21.25
