Literary Figures

AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4'S BETWEEN OURSELVES, IN CONVERSATION WITH TARA FLYNNLaugh your socks off with this hilarious collection of tales, observations and flights of fancy from the No. 1 bestselling author of Grown Ups'Will make you laugh, cry and feel...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780525432159Author Henning MankellFormat PaperbackPage Count 320Imprint Vintage BooksPublisher Random House USA IncWeight(grams) 266gDimensions(mm) 201mm *...

Autobiographical without being an autobiography, confessional without disclosing his private self, The Summing Up, written when Maugham was sixty-four, is an inimitable expression of a personal credo. It is not only a classic avowal of a professional...

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVOURITE BOOKS OF 2023ONE OF THE GUARDIAN AND PROSPECT'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES, ATLANTIC, AND WALL STREET JOURNAL'S TOP TEN BOOKS OF THE YEAR'Extraordinary... Magisterial... A remarkable meditation on...

'Nothing I have read is more affecting than Mihail Sebastian's magnificent, haunting 1934 novel, For Two Thousand Years' - Philippe Sands, Guardian Books of the YearA prescient interwar masterpiece, available in English for the first time'Absolutely,...

From one of the most famous poets in history comes a new selection of writings to bereaved friends and acquaintances, providing comfort in a time of grief and words to soothe the soul. 'A treasure. The solace Rilke offers is uncommon, uplifting and...

In this new interpretation of the life and work of the American poet, short-story writer and novelist "Charles Bukowski", David Stephen Calonne examines Bukowski's writings, colourful life and the desperate conditions of his lifestyle, looking at the...

Iris Origo was one of the twentieth century's most attractive and intriguing women, a brilliantly perceptive historian and biographer whose works remain widely admired. Iris grew up in Italy where she became part of the colourful and privileged...

'These hours of solitude and meditation are the only time of the day when I am completely myself' Reveries of the Solitary Walker is Rousseau's last great work, the product of his final years of exile from the society that condemned his political and...

This is the never-before-told story of George Orwell's first wife, Eileen, a woman who shaped, supported, and even saved the life of one of the twentieth century's greatest writers.In 1934, Eileen O'Shaughnessy's futuristic poem, 'End of the Century,...

A luminous memoir from the prize-winning poet - a story of love, heartbreak and coming of age, and a tender exploration of queer identity.'Beautiful' Colm Toibin'Rapturous' New York Times'Extraordinary' Observer'Stunning' Sunday TimesWhen Sean meets...

'Deeply moving' David Lammy'Honest, poetic and deeply researched excellence.' Paterson Joseph'A beautiful ode to migration, love and all that we do for family.' Florence Ọlájídé'It took two decades for me to go in search of the parts of myself I had left...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781400080465Author Amy Rosenthal KrouseFormat PaperbackPage Count 240Imprint Three Rivers PressPublisher Three Rivers PressWeight(grams) 315g

The definitive and authorised biography of the artist Vanessa Bell. Even through the lens of the twenty-first century, the story of Vanessa Bell's life is unorthodox. A powerful magnetic figure, Bell lived at the heart of the Bloomsbury Group and was...

A luminous memoir of post-war childhood, adventure and loss on the banks of the Nile. 'Wonderful - a brave, inventive, touching distillation of memory and imagination' JENNY UGLOW Inventory of a Life...

Colm Toibin's Lady Gregory's Toothbrush is a beautiful insight into the life of outspoken Irishwoman, Augusta Gregory.A remarkable figure in Celtic history, she was married to an MP and land-owner, yet retained an unprecedented independence of both...

In Boyhood, J. M. Coetzee revisits the South Africa of half a century ago, to write about his childhood and interior life. Boyhood's young narrator grew up in a small country town. With a father he imitated but could not respect, and a mother he both...

'Bernardine Evaristo is one of those writers who should be read by everyone, everywhere' Elif ShafakThe powerful, urgent manifesto on never giving up from Booker prize-winning trailblazer, Bernardine Evaristo.In 2019, Bernardine Evaristo became the first...

'We feasted on love, every mode of it - solemn and merry, romantic and realistic, sometimes as dramatic as a thunderstorm, sometimes as comfortable and unemphatic as putting on your soft slippers.' C. S. LewisThe celebrated scholar and writer C. S. Lewis...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780307946393Author Paul GoldbergerFormat PaperbackPage Count 544Imprint Alfred A. KnopfPublisher Alfred A. KnopfWeight(grams) 618gDimensions(mm) 233mm *...

Timely reissue of the second volume of Holmes's classic biographies of one of the greatest Romantic poets. Richard Holmes's biography of Coleridge transforms our view of the poet of 'Kubla Khan' forever. Holmes's Coleridge leaps out of these...

A Times and Sunday Times Best Book of 2020 'Radical Wordsworth deserves to take its place as the finest modern introduction to his work, life and impact' Financial Times ...

What happens in an old farmhouse when the farmers have left? Perhaps only a poet-historian-storyteller can say. These traditional work centres were established centuries ago, sometimes in the village street, often far away in their own fields. But the...

W. B. Yeats believed that a poet's life should be an experiment in living. His poems fashion into memorable words the sometimes puzzling emotions that hover over important life events. Yeats's remarkable work can clarify our own thinking about similar...

The definitive biography of the undisputed giant of English literature, a man whose own true history has long been hidden behind the fictional world of his books 'Compendious and compelling ... it is impossible to imagine this Life being bettered'...

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 could be shut out. Soldiers arrived with pictures of the university fully formed in their heads, and...

Mary Wesley published her first novel at seventy and went on to write a further nine bestsellers, including the legendary The Camomile Lawn, in a style best described as arsenic without the old lace. Many of her stories were inspired by her experiences...

The classic biography of Alfred Wainwright.Alfred Wainwright's unique hand-drawn and hand-written PICTORIAL GUIDES TO THE LAKELAND FELLS have been an inspiration to walkers for over forty years. Yet despite many bestselling books and three television...

My sand life, my pebble life. My life measured out in tides, coming in and going out. My life measured out in games of trying to spot the sea first. My life measured out in the delicious and indulgent sadness that comes from leaving a holiday cottage for...

A James Beard Award-winning journalist presents a combination memoir and cookbook in which she describes growing up in French colonial Egypt and presents a richly exotic collection of recipes that blend a variety of cultural influences. Originally...

A 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...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781850588399Author Roger WardaleFormat PaperbackPage Count 136Imprint Sigma LeisurePublisher Sigma Press

Black Beauty is a novel that changed our world. Intended to 'induce kindness' in a Victorian audience who relied on horses for transport, travel and power, it remains a dearly loved children's classic. Writing Black Beauty is the story of the remarkable...

A biography of Renaissance poet and courtier, Thomas Wyatt.About the AuthorNicola Shulman is a writer and reviewer for publications including the Sunday Telegraph, the TLS and Harpers & Queen. She lives with her family in London and in Yorkshire. She...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781906462109Author Nicola BeaumanFormat PaperbackPage Count 448Imprint Persephone Books LtdPublisher Persephone Books LtdDimensions(mm) 198mm * 134mm * 33mm

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 2017 SHORTLISTED FOR THE LONDON HELLENIC PRIZE 2017 WINNER OF THE PRIX MEDITERRANEE 2018 From the award-winning, best-selling writer: a deeply moving tale of a...

Erudite and entertaining in equal measure, Somewhere Becoming Rain is a love letter from the much-loved writer Clive James to one of the world's most cherished poets: Philip Larkin.'This is the finest critic of his generation on the best poet of his...

'An extraordinary book ... exceptionally fascinating, always readable and penetratingly intelligent' David Abulafia'As rich, funny and teemingly peopled as Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time ... Dinshaw writes with wit and elegance, and the...

Fascinating insight into the tempestuous life of one of our great poets through his letters, including those to the two great loves of his life. Featuring a bold new livery in celebration of the Dylan Thomas centenary.Dylan Thomas' letters to the many...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781451631579Author Claude BrownFormat PaperbackPage Count 416Imprint Simon & SchusterPublisher Simon & SchusterWeight(grams) 327gDimensions(mm) 213mm *...