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Nancy Durrell was a woman famous for her silences. Anais Nin said 'I think often of Nancy's most eloquent silences, Nancy talking with her fingers, her hair, her cheeks, a...

Everybody knows about Sherlock Holmes , the unique literary character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle , who has remained popular over the decades and is more appreciated than ever...

The authoritative biography on that most fascinating of poets, Ted Hughes. Described by Andrew Motion as, alongside Larkin, 'one of the two great poets of the last half of the...

Secrecy came naturally to John le Carr, and there were some secrets that he fought fiercely to keep. Adam Sisman's definitive biography, published in 2015, provided a revealing portrait of...

Oxford thought it was at war. And then it was. After the horrors of the First World War, Oxford looked like an Arcadia - a dream world - from which...

Oxford thought it was at war. And then it was. After the horrors of the First World War, Oxford looked like an Arcadia - a dreamworld - from which pain...

'An absolute belter of a biography' MARINA HYDE A Times Literary Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2022 An LA Times Best Book of the Year 2022 An intimate, revealing and...

Mozart holds a central, unwavering place in our culture, and his works are widely loved and listened to, often as much-loved favourites, or as background music. But how much do...

An intimate exploration of the life, craft, and legacy of one of the most revered and influential writers, an artist who continues to inspire fans and creatives to cultivate practices...

An insightful exploration that unveils the lesser-known dimensions of this legendary writer and her legacy, revealing the cultural icon's profound impact as a visionary editor who helped define an important...

Named a BOOK OF THE YEAR by The Times and Sunday Times, New Statesman, Spectator, Prospect, and New Yorker . 'Undoubtedly Hoare's masterpiece' Olivia Laing 'Queer in all senses of...

'This is the biography - truthful, sympathetic and thorough - that Coward deserves' DAILY TELEGRAPH The voice, the dressing-gown, the cigarette in its holder, remain unmistakable. There is rarely a...

Jane Austen traces the author's life and times, her personal relationships, the attitudes and customs of the time that shaped her and were in turn shaped by her work, and...

When we think about George Orwell, we imagine an angular, moustachioed sceptic crouched over a typewriter, who - between puffs on his cigarette - composes effortless streams of prose, unadorned...

When we think about George Orwell, we imagine an angular, moustachioed sceptic crouched over a typewriter, who - between puffs on his cigarette - composes effortless streams of prose, unadorned...

Joseph Frank's award-winning, five-volume Dostoevsky is widely recognized as the best biography of the writer in any language--and one of the greatest literary biographies of the past half-century. Now Frank's...

Captain Cook s Three Voyages Round The World: With A Sketch Of His Life is a historical non-fiction book written by James Cook, a renowned British explorer and navigator. The...

In between the partying, the drugs, the love affairs, the 'squalid overboogie' of it all, Eve Babitz made time to chronicle the world as she saw it in works like...

The definitive Shaw, now for the general reader Holroyd has done a masterly job of cutting down his huge biography to a lively and manageable one-volume life - the definitive...

Beatrice Davis, 1909-1992, was general editor at Angus and Robertson the main Australian publishing company from 1937 to 1973. There she discovered and published such writers as Thea Astley, Miles...

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...

'Fluent and witty . . . confident . . . highly readable' Kathryn Hughes, GUARDIAN 'Lively and accomplished' Sophie Duncan, LITERARY REVIEW 'E ngaging, enthusiastic and informative' Philip Hensher, SPECTATOR...

**LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2021** **SHORTLISTED FOR THE DUFF COOPER PRIZE 2021** **SHORTLISTED FOR THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE** **FINALIST FOR THE 2022 PLUTARCH AWARD** D....

Books about the work of James Joyce are an academic industry. Most of them are unreadable and esoteric. Adrian Hardiman's book is both highly readable and strikingly original. He spent...

Samuel Pepys's Diary stands with Shakespeare and the King James Bible as an indisputable treasure of English literature. As a picture of England, and especially of London, in the age...

The Dam Busters, The Great Escape and Reach for the Sky were all written by Paul Brickhill, an Australian hero of WWII. 2016 marks the 100th anniversary of his birth...

Over seventy years since his premature death, George Orwell (1903-50) has become one of the most significant figures in western literature. His two dystopian masterpieces, Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen...

** 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...

When we think about George Orwell, we imagine an angular, moustachioed sceptic crouched over a typewriter, who - between puffs on his cigarette - composes effortless streams of prose, unadorned...

A fascinating new biography of the man behind James Bond, by an award-winning biographer and novelist who has unprecedented access to the Fleming Archive. A fresh portrait of the man...

'Dickensian is a language, not an adjective. Conrad speaks it fluently.' -- Spectator World 'Marvellous... the best book on Dickens since G.K. Chesterton's. -- A. N. Wilson, The Oldie A...

A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR: THE TIMES / SUNDAY TIMES , GUARDIAN , TELEGRAPH , TLS , FINANCIAL TIMES , ECONOMIST , NEW STATESMAN , LONDON STANDARD AND WASHINGTON...

From Normandy to the Caribbean Islands, this innovative biographical pursuit follows Adele Hugo on her reckless journey of unrequited love - and the writer who chased after her more than...

'Dickensian is a language, not an adjective. Conrad speaks it fluently.' -- Spectator World 'Marvellous... the best book on Dickens since G.K. Chesterton's. -- A. N. Wilson, The Oldie A...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE AMERICAN LIBRARY IN PARIS BOOK AWARD 2025 'Strikingly accomplished . . . utterly compelling.' SUNDAY TIMES 'A masterpiece of biography.' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'A total joy to read.'...

Jane Austen is one of Britain's best loved authors and this beautifully illustrated guide to her novels, released to commemorate the 200th anniversary of her death, is an essential for...

Someone once said: Many books have been written about Bobby Fischer. Maybe a voice will be heard in this day and age when only yesterday seems as distant history: Will...

This work starts with an introduction by J.H. Stape, St Mary's University College, Strawberry Hill. Written in 1930, "Bernard Shaw: An Unauthorised Biography" (1930) appeared shortly after Frank Harris' death....

Bernard Shaw fashioned public images of himself that belied the nature and depth of his emotional experiences and the complexity of his intellectual outlook. In this absorbing biography, noted Shavian...

A blazing, genre-bending masterpiece from one of the most inventive writers of our time. * A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2023 * * THE FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOKS...

In 1842, five years before they would become bestselling authors, Charlotte Bronte and her sister Emily arrived in Brussels. They were there to improve their French and German, but the...

Maurice Bowra was, according to one's point of view, either the most distinguished or the most notorious Oxford don of the early twentieth century. Classicist, poet, wit, raconteur extraordinary, and...

We all know who James Bond is, but how many of us know much about his creator, Ian Fleming, a master of espionage and thrillers? In this full-length biography, author...

This landmark biography of celebrated Romantic poet John Keats explodes entrenched conceptions of him as a delicate, overly sensitive, tragic figure. Instead, Nicholas Roe reveals the real flesh-and-blood poet: a...

Almost 400 years after his death, William Shakespeare is still acclaimed as the world's greatest writer, and yet the man himself remains shrouded in mystery. In this absorbing historical detective...

Chesterton is so good on Dickens because his wit is as sharp as that of the Great Inimitable himself: "Dickens was most accurate when he was most fantastic. . ....

A triumph of literary detective work: the first popular biography of the adventurous Elizabethan earl whose life and letters indicate that he was the true author of the works of...

Ben Jonson was the greatest of Shakespeare's contemporaries. In the century following his death he was seen by many as the finest of all English writers, living or dead. His...