by Claire Tomalin
£30
Claire Tomalin has earned her reputation is one of Britain’s most respected biographers after her books on Thomas Hardy and Samuel Pepys. Here she captures brilliantly the complex character of this great genius.
by Sophie Ratcliffe
£30
Wodehouse always shied away from the idea of a biography. A quiet, retiring man, he expressed himself through the written word. His letters illuminate his life in new York, his success as a novelist and the unhappy episode in 1940 where he was interned by the Germans and later erroneously accused of broadcasting pro-Nazi propaganda.
by Jeremy Clark
£12.99
Author’s formative years: Resigned from job as refuse collector, returned library books, sold house, went to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Came back altered. Conscious decision to join bourgeoisie. Reviewed book by the late, great Dr Brian Plummer on ferret husbandry for University College London student magazine. Taken on by legendary editor Dr Karl Miller as his latest ‘great white hope’. Book deal. Fifty grand advance. Spent advance. Failed to write book. What Jeremy did next: Became author of Low Life columns in the Spectator. Encouraged by small publisher to rehash old columns in book form
by Michael Holroyd
£8.99
Masterfully atmospheric treasure-trove of hidden lives, uncelebrated achievements and family mysteries. Acclaimed biographer Michael Holroyd peers into dusty corners to bring a company of unknown women into the light: Alice Keppel was the mistress of both the second Lord Grimthorpe and the Prince of Wales; Eve Fairfax was Lord Grimthorpe’s abandoned fiancee and sometime muse of Auguste Rodin; and, the novelist Violet Trefusis was the lover of Vita Sackville-West.
by The Countess of Carnarvon
£19.99
Lady Fiona Carnarvon, the chatelaine of Highclere Castle, near Newbury and the setting of the hit series Downton Abbey, has become fascinated by the rich history of Highclere, and by the extraordinary people who lived there over the centuries, in particular, Lady Almina who oversaw 80 members of staff during the turbulent time of the First World War.
