Literary Figures

'Superlative... definitive and genuinely gripping' SUNDAY TIMES'Utterly engrossing' EVENING STANDARD'Compulsively readable... Beautifully written... Definitive' OBSERVER Appointed by Philip Roth and granted complete access and independence, Blake Bailey...

This is a memoir of the first 40 years of Gore Vidal's life, ranging back and forth across a rich history. He spent his childhood in Washington DC, in the household of his grandfather, the blind senator from Oklahoma, T.P. Gore, and in the various...

*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...

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...

Winner of four major prizes for the best critical/biographical book related to crime fiction: the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity and H.R.F. Keating Awards; and shortlisted for both the Agatha and Gold Dagger Awards. ...

'Darkly angelic prose... a joy to read, with the final part in particular recalling David Foster Wallace at his best' Alex Preston, Observer ________________________________ Will's mother's hokey homily, Waste not, want not... hisses in his ears as he...

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...

'Dangerous as lucifer matches.' That was how Arthur Nicholls, Charlotte Bronte's husband for the last nine months of her life, described her letters. Full of acute observations, pithy character sketches, and passionate convictions, the letters are our...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.All What Jazz: A Record Diary 1961 - 1971 gathers Philip Larkin's elegant, witty and penetrating reviews and responses to an enormous range of jazz and other records.About the...

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...

The much-loved, irresistibly funny memoir of literary New York which was an international bestseller and enchanted readers around the world - now a major film starring Sigourney Weaver and Margaret Qualley, My New York Year 'Gripping and funny'...

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.

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9780998267586Author Mayrocker FriederikeFormat PaperbackPage Count 256Imprint A Public SpacePublisher A Public Space

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...

'A delight . . . a glorious, witty and life-affirming ragbag of autobiography, cultural commentary and hard-won wisdom.' ANDREW TAYLOR, author of The Shadows of London'Perceptive, wise and illuminating . . . an unmissable farewell.' Barry Forshaw,...

'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...

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...

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...

Kim Stanley Robinson first ventured into the Sierra Nevada mountains during the summer of 1973. He returned from that encounter a changed man, awed by a landscape that made him feel as if he were simultaneously strolling through an art museum and...

"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...

A powerful biography of the internationally renowned writer who created one of the most enduring characters in children's literature, Pippi Longstocking"[An] Insightful, elegantly written biography of the beloved author of the Pippi Longstocking tales, a...

"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...

Katherine Mansfield is the celebrated biography be bestselling author Claire Tomalin'One of the best biographies I have ever read: a perfect match of author and subject. It should become a classic' Alison LuriePursuing art and adventure across Europe,...

This is a book about a poet, about a poem, about a city, and about a world at a point of change. More than a work of literary criticism or literary biography, it is a record of why and how we create and respond to great poetry. This is a book...

A dazzling biography of two interwoven, tragic lives: John Keats and F. Scott Fitzgerald. 'Highly engaging ... Go now, read this book' THE TIMES 'For awhile after you quit Keats,' Fitzgerald once wrote,...

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,...

Arthur Ransome was, from 1930 to the early 1960s, what J.K. Rowling is today: author of a series of children's books which shaped the imagination of a generation. Rooted in the heyday of the British Empire, Swallows and Amazons and its sequels described...

Five-year-old Jimmy Rova is the unwanted child of a mother who rejects him, and whose other children bully him. The one thing he can call his own is a pair of shoes, a present from the only person he feels has ever loved him. When they are cruelly taken...

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...

** WINNER OF THE L.A. TIMES BOOK PRIZE FOR BIOGRAPHY **'Exhilarating.' Joyce Carol Oates, Times Literary Supplement Books of the Year'Sharp-eyed and revealing.' The New Yorker'Brilliant . . . Remarkable.' New York Journal of BooksStephen Crane produced...

Explorer, novelist, writer and film-maker, Sir Laurens van der Post was one of the most influential figures of our era. Here, in conversation with Jean-Marc Pottiez, he records his ideas and insights into a wide range of issues and personalities, forged...

The story of the group of extraordinary eighteenth-century writers, artists, and thinkers who gathered weekly at a London tavernNamed one of the 10 Best Books of 2019 by the New York Times Book Review * A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2019 * A Kirkus...

The second volume of Robert Crawford's magisterial biography of the revolutionary modernist, visionary poet and troubled man, drawing on extensive new sources.In this compelling and meticulous portrait of the twentieth century's most important poet,...

'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...

How did Kafka become Kafka? This eagerly anticipated third and final volume of Reiner Stach's definitive biography of the writer answers that question with more facts and insight than ever before, describing the complex personal, political, and cultural...

* * 'Very funny and astute . . . a loathly feast for royal-watchers' Hilary Mantel, New Statesman Books of the Year 2018'Almost every page is a gem'A. N. Wilson, Spectator Christmas Books'A complete delight, conjuring up, with a few sharp strokes of the...

Inventing Scrooge uncovers the real-life inspirations from Charles Dickens' own world that led to the fascinating creation of his most beloved tale: A Christmas Carol.When Charles Dickens created the story that would become A Christmas Carol, little did...

Numerous books have attempted to chronicle the life of Dante Alighieri, yet essential questions remain unanswered. How did this self-taught Florentine become the celebrated author of the Divine Comedy? Was his exile from Florence so extraordinary? How...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.AwardsCommended for Hugo Award (Related Book) 2022.Book InformationISBN 9780593135730Author Abraham RiesmanFormat PaperbackPage Count 416Imprint Random House IncPublisher Random...