Search results for ""author selina hastings""

For nearly sixty years Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) was one of the most famous writers in the world. An enormously successful playwright and the author of over a hundred short stories and twenty-one novels - several of which are now established classics - Maugham expertly concealed a private life. Predominantly homosexual, and deeply in love with the charming but dissolute Gerald Haxton, he made a disastrous marriage to Syrie Wellcome which he would escape by travelling and writing extensively in the Far East. A talented linguist, during both world wars Maugham worked for British Intelligence. In between he moved in literary and theatrical circles in London, New York and Hollywood and entertained lavishly at his luxurious villa in the south of France. Outwardly his life was richly rewarding, but privately he suffered anguish from an unrequited love affair and a shocking final betrayal.Acclaimed biographer Selina Hastings has had access to Maugham's extensive private correspondence as well as to important family testimony, which sheds a fascinating new light on this complex and extraordinary man.

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'Hastings is one of our greatest living biographers' Simon Heffer, Daily TelegraphSybille Bedford's life contained all the grand feeling and seismic events of the twentieth century: war and peace, love and trauma, friendship and death. Her father died when she was just fourteen and her mother, a great socialite and litterateur, fell victim to a debilitating morphine addiction. A bon viveur, she roamed from country to country in search of fresh experience, with ear and eye attuned to her surroundings, typewriter at the ready. Full of intense friendships (Aldous Huxley, Martha Gellhorn and Elizabeth Jane Howard among them), a fierce commitment to the craft of writing, as well as an insatiable appetite for love and sex, Sybille Bedford blazed her own path in her life and her art.'Selina Hastings' wonderful, gossipy biography is a gem, revealing not just the shy writer, but also the colourful, turbulent 20th-century literary world in which she lived' Sunday Times, Books of the Year'A wonderful biography' Sara Wheeler, Spectator'An extraordinary story' The Times'A richly entertaining biography' Daily Mail, Books of the Year

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A beautifully illustrated children's Bible for families to enjoy together.This collection of influential and inspiring stories from the Old and New Testaments helps children to learn and interpret the messages and meanings of the Bible. The classic stories are retold in simple, accessible language for children, while beautiful illustrations bring the words to life.Children aged 9-12 years will love the colourful photographs and illustrations of key people and places, alongside geographical maps of locations in the Bible, to provide fresh insight and aid understanding. The Children's Pocket Bible also introduces younger readers to sacred sites of religious significance, from the peak of Mount Sinai to the shores of the Sea of Galilee. This family favourite pocket Bible features: - The many stories, events, people, and places in one comprehensive reference book- Clear, accessible text, including helpful quotations, for understanding and enjoyment of the Bible stories- Beautiful illustrations and photography, alongside stories and quotations, to engage a younger audience- Material prepared in full consultation with education experts, scholars, and religious advisersThis comprehensive guide to the Bible for kids covers major events to learn about in detail, including the creation, the nativity, and the resurrection. You'll also find important quotations from the King James Bible, with useful references to chapter and verse.

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A beautifully illustrated children's Bible for families to enjoy together.This collection of influential and inspiring stories from the Old and New Testaments helps children to learn and interpret the messages and meanings of the Bible. The classic stories are retold in simple, accessible language for children, while beautiful illustrations bring the words to life.Children aged 9-12 years will love the colorful photographs and illustrations of key people and places, alongside geographical maps of locations in the Bible, to provide fresh insight and aid understanding. The Children’s Pocket Bible also introduces younger readers to sacred sites of religious significance, from the peak of Mount Sinai to the shores of the Sea of Galilee. This family favourite pocket Bible features: - The many stories, events, people, and places in one comprehensive reference book- Clear, accessible text, including helpful quotations, for understanding and enjoyment of the Bible stories- Beautiful illustrations and photography, alongside stories and quotations, to engage a younger audience- Material prepared in full consultation with education experts, scholars, and religious advisersThis comprehensive guide to the Bible for kids covers major events to learn about in detail, including the creation, the nativity, and the resurrection. You’ll also find important quotations from the King James Bible, with useful references to chapter and verse.

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After a lonely boyhood, and the painful ordeal of his schooldays, Philip's yearning for adventure takes him to Germany and later Paris where he tries to make his mark as an artist before returning to London to study medicine. Here, a tortured and one-sided love affair with Mildred, a vulgar yet irresistible waitress, changes the course of his life for ever.Commenting later on the novel’s autobiographical aspects, Maugham recalled how in writing the book he mingled fact and fiction and 'found myself free from the pains and unhappy recollections that had tormented me'.However, like Dickens’s David Copperfield to which it is often compared, Of Human Bondage goes far beyond autobiography, and is Maugham’s most ambitious and unsparing novel, revealing the author’s undoubted gift for storytelling as he explores the timeless theme of human freedom - freedom to act, to think and to love.

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Diana Mitford, the most glamorous of the Mitfords, rivetingly narrates her life populated with key characters of 20th century history. Evelyn Waugh and Oswald Mosley fell in love with her, while not only Winston Churchill but also Adolf Hitler adored her. She lived in the grandest houses as well as in Holloway Prison. Later the Duke and Duchess of Windsor entered her life, followed by Nelson Mandela... Meanwhile her mordant Mitford wit developed later into an elegant arch writing style as journalist and (auto)biographer.

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'Always be civil to the girls. You never know whom they might marry.' Nancy Mitford, from her introduction to The Princess de Clèves When the young, beautiful Mademoiselle de Chartres comes to court, her primary objective is to find herself a husband. Upon her mother's recommendation, she accepts the advances of the Prince de Clèves, a rather average sort of a man. Unfortunately, soon after the wedding she finds herself to be in love with the dashing Duc de Nemours . . . Against a backdrop of labyrinthine court politics, the naïve Madame de Clèves' pursuit of true love is a riveting and timelessly tragic read.

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