Literary Figures

'One day there is life . . . And then, suddenly, it happens there is death.'So begins Paul Auster's moving and personal meditation on fatherhood, The Invention of Solitude. The first section, 'Portrait of an Invisible Man', reveals Auster's memories and...

Graham Robb's brilliant biography moves Rimbaud on from his perpetual adolescence where our imaginations have held him to show the extent of his transformations. From phenomenally precocious schoolboy he became Europe's most shocking and exhilarating...

DOROTHY WORDSWORTH is well known as the author of the Alfoxden and Grasmere Journals (1798-1803) and as the sister of the poet William Wordsworth. She is widely praised for her nature writing and is often remembered as a woman of great physical vitality...

In this funny, poignant and unflinchingly honest memoir, one of the world's best-loved storytellers explains how he evolved from a conservative son of the Old South into a gay rights pioneer whose novels inspired millions to claim their own lives. It...

The revealing of the hidden muse - Emily Hale - the Hyacinth Girl of the famous The Waste Land poem - who influenced the life and art of TS Eliot.Among the greatest of poets, T.S. Eliot protected his privacy while publicly associated with three women:...

Dorothy Wellesley was a poet, gardener, traveller and heiress; she was also bisexual and a rebel. She became the lover of Vita Sackville-West, wrecking her marriage to the Duke of Wellington. She was the intimate friend of W.B. Yeats in his final years...

Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) emerges in most accounts of his life by biographers and critics as a mysterious and sensational action figure, a hapless pawn of circumstance, or a pseudonymous cipher. Constance Brown Kuriyama's new biography reconstructs...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2015 SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE 'Gripping and at times ineffably sad, this book would be poetic even without the poetry. It will be the standard biography of Ted Hughes for a long time to come' Sunday Times 'Seldom has...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781770414464Author Jean McNeilFormat PaperbackPage Count 384Imprint ECW Press,CanadaPublisher ECW Press,Canada

Jane Austen's letters afford a unique insight into the daily life of the novelist: intimate and gossipy, observant and informative, they bring alive her family and friends, her surroundings and contemporary events with a freshness unparalleled in...

A SPECTATOR, NEW STATESMAN AND THE TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 'The best biography I have read in years' Philippe Sands 'Spectacular' Observer 'A remarkable portrait' Guardian W. G. Sebald was one of the most extraordinary and influential writers of...

From the very first book publication in 1920 to the upcoming film release of Death on the Nile, this investigation into Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot celebrates a century of probably the world's favourite fictional detective. ...

'I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart's affections, and the truth of imagination' - Keats, in a letter to his friend Benjamin Bailey in November 1817.In a period of great letter-writing, Keats's letters are outstanding. They begin in...

*A BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021 PICK IN THE TIMES, FINANCIAL TIMES, SPECTATOR AND NEW STATESMAN*From the award-winning author of Becoming Dickens and The Story of Alice comes a major new biography of Charles Dickens, tracing the year that would transform his...

Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-FictionLonglisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing'If you have even the slightest interest in Orwell or in the development of our culture, you should not miss this engrossing, enlightening book.'...

A renowned scholar investigates the "human crisis" that Albert Camus confronted in his world and in ours, producing a brilliant study of Camus's life and influence for those readers who, in Camus's words, "cannot live without dialogue and friendship."As...

Although the children's story _Alice in Wonderland_ has been in print for over 150 years, the mysteries and rumours surrounding the story and its creator Lewis Carroll have continued to grow. _The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland_ is the first time...

Something extraordinary happened to the UK literary scene in the 1980s. In the space of eight years, a generation of young British writers took the literary novel into new realms of setting, subject matter and style, challenging - and almost eclipsing -...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781644210024Author Silvana PaternostroFormat PaperbackPage Count 304Imprint Seven Stories Press,U.S.Publisher Seven Stories Press,U.S.

A fascinating journey into the life of H.G. Wells, from one of Britain's best biographers How did the first forty years of H. G. Wells' life shape the father of science fiction?From his impoverished childhood in a working-class English family, to his...

A SPECTATOR, NEW STATESMAN AND THE TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 'The best biography I have read in years' Philippe Sands 'Spectacular' Observer 'A remarkable portrait' Guardian W. G. Sebald was one of the most extraordinary and influential writers of...

In this vividly rendered and empathetic biography of two of the greatest poets of the 20th century-Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton-"the friendship and rivalry that the pair shared-not to mention the titular cocktails at a Boston hotel-is explored in...

A fascinating journey into the life of H.G. Wells, from one of Britain's best biographersHow did the first forty years of H. G. Wells' life shape the father of science fiction?From his impoverished childhood in a working-class English family, to his...

Bestselling novelist Amanda Prowse knew how to resolve a fictional family crisis. But then her son came to her with a real one... Josiah was nineteen with the world at his feet when things changed. Without warning, the new university student's mental...

'During the Tang dynasty, the Chinese artist Wu Tao-tzu was one day standing looking at a mural he had just completed. Suddenly, he clapped his hands and the temple gate opened. He went into his work and the gates closed behind him.' Thus begins Sven...

As the nephew of Virginia Woolf, Quentin Bell enjoyed an initimacy with his subject granted to few biographers. Originally published in two volumes in 1972, his acclaimed biography describes Virginia Woolf's family and childhood; her earliest writings;...

SHORTLISTED 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...

From the author of the definitive biography of Fyodor Dostoevsky, never-before-published lectures that provide an accessible introduction to the Russian writer's major worksJoseph Frank (1918-2013) was perhaps the most important Dostoevsky biographer,...

Shot through with Stoppard's voice, and illuminating all his plays, Lee's gripping narrative draws on unprecedented access to archive material, interviews and long conversations with Stoppard himself. She traces the dramatic story of his family's flight...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781899262014Author Julia JonesFormat PaperbackPage Count 464Imprint Golden Duck (UK) LtdPublisher Golden Duck (UK) Ltd

Charles Dickens is the definitive illustrated guide to the man and his works with images of documents from Dickens' personal archive written by one of descendants. It follows Dickens from early childhood, including his time spent as a child labourer, and...

Cold Cream is a sparkling autobiography in the great tradition: wonderfully perceptive, exquisitely rendered and bursting with characters and anecdotes of every shade and hue. A tender, moving and witty portrait of Ferdinand Mount's family and his early...

The Independent Best Book for Walkers 2022 Where can a walk take you? It goes without saying, walking can connect us to our surroundings and free us from our worries. It can raise our heart rate and relax our minds. It can lead us...

WINNER OF THE 2020 PULITZER PRIZE FOR BIOGRAPHYSelected as a Book of the Year 2019 by the SPECTATOR, TELEGRAPH, NEW STATESMAN and FINANCIAL TIMES 'Definitive and delightful' Stephen Fry 'There can be no doubting the brilliance - the sheer explanatory...

The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft is the acclaimed bestselling biography by Claire TomalinWinner of the Whitbread First Book PrizeWitty, courageous and unconventional, Mary Wollstonecraft was one of the most controversial figures of her day. She...

Roger McGough is one of Britain's best-loved poets, and something of a national institution. His name is ubiquitous with matter-of-fact Scouse humour, easy-going charm, and perfect observations of the idiosyncrasies of everyday life, whether you know him...

Shakespeare and Company, Paris, is one of the world's most iconic and beautiful bookshops. Located on the banks of the Seine, opposite Notre-Dame, it's long been a meeting place for anglophone writers and readers. In that tradition, determined for the...

"If you didn't know whether to risk doing something, what's the worst that could happen? 'So they call you pisher!'"In this humorous and moving memoir, Michael Rosen recalls the first twenty-three years of his life. Born in the North London suburbs, his...

In Reading Chekhov Janet Malcolm takes on three roles: literary critic, biographer and journalist. Her close readings of Chekhov's stories and plays are interwoven with episodes from his life and framed by an account of a recent journey she made to St...

"Something will happen to me on Desolation Peak…I can feel it."  In the summer of 1956, Jack Kerouac hitchhiked from Mill Valley, CA, to the North Cascades to spend two months serving as a fire lookout for the US Forest Service. Taking only the Diamond...