Literary Figures

For the first time, John Drury convincingly integrates the life and poetry of George Herbert, giving us in Music at Midnight the definitive biography of the man behind some of the most famous poems in the English Language.'Love bade me welcome . . ...

Rebellion, revolution, experimental living, feminist communes, street theatre, radical magazines, love affairs - gay and straight - sex, drugs and rock and roll.Michele Roberts, one of Britain's most talented and highly acclaimed novelists, now considers...

Evocative, engaging and filled with vivid details, Rooms of their Own explores the homes of these three writers linked to the Bloomsbury Group. Bringing together stories of love, desire and intimacy, of evolving relationships and erotic encounters, with...

Noel Riley Fitch has written a perfect book, full to the brim with literary history, correct and whole-hearted both in statement and in implication. She makes me feel and remember a good many things that happened before and after my time. I'm glad to...

THE TOP TEN SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERLONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTIONSHORTLISTED FOR THE GORDON BURN PRIZE'A marvellous book . . . I just loved it all, and have a permanently marked-up, dog-eared copy on my shelf for the next generation'...

Critically acclaimed, award-winning biography of CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien and the brilliant group of writers to come out of Oxford during the Second World War. C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and their friends were a regular feature of the Oxford...

A moving portrait of the landscape that shaped the life of Laurie Lee, the beloved author of Cider With Rosie 'Before I left the valley I thought everywhere was like this. Then I went away for 40 years and when I came back I realized that nowhere was...

At the time of his death at the age of 95, Eric Hobsbawm (1917-2012) was the most famous historian in the world. His books were translated into more than fifty languages and he was as well known in Brazil and Italy as he was in Britain and the United...

See inside the gardens where literary giants from Tolstoy to Agatha Christie created some of their finest works in this visually stunning and fascinating book. Discover the flower gardens, vegetable plots, landscapes and writing hideaways of 30 great...

A genius of literary suspense, known to millions as the author of the "The Lottery", Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) plumbed the cultural anxiety of postwar America better than anyone. Based on a wealth of previously undiscovered correspondence and dozens of...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781787373877Author W H DaviesFormat PaperbackPage Count 120Imprint Word to the WisePublisher Word to the WiseWeight(grams) 172gDimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm...

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...

A memoir from the beloved author behind the multimillion-copy bestselling A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS 'Handler's memoir, although subtle, ironic and full of dry wit, still pulses with that same childlike enthusiasm for books. Read it and you might...

The second volume of the remarkable autobiography of Arthur Koestler, author of Darkness at Noon.Taken together, Arthur Koestler's volumes of autobiography constitute an unrivalled study of a twentieth-century life. The Invisible Writing picks up where...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2014 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR NONFICTION The definitive biography of America's most impassioned and lyrical twentieth-century playwright from acclaimed theatre critic John Lahr 'A masterpiece about a genius' Helen Mirren ...

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...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781785374357Author Colin BatemanFormat PaperbackPage Count 272Imprint Merrion PressPublisher Merrion Press

'Britain's greatest living nature writer' The TimesRediscover the extraodinary power of nature and the British wilderness, from award-winning naturalist and author Richard MabeyIn the last year of the old millennium, Richard Mabey, Britain's foremost...

Shortlised for the Saltire Society Non Fiction Book of the Year Award Almost every adult and child is familiar with his Treasure Island, but few know that Robert Louis Stevenson lived out his last years on an equally remote island, which was squabbled...

The National Book Award-winning author of Year of the Monkey, Just Kids, and M Train offers a rare, intimate account of her own creative process. A work of creative brilliance may seem like magic-its source a mystery, its impact unexpectedly stirring...

'There is a sense throughout Athill's work that you are making a new friend as much as reading a new story... A delight to read' Observer WINNER OF THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY PRIZE, the moving and witty memoir on what it means to grow old. Written in...

'Little Matters they are to be sure, but highly important.' Letter-writing was something of an addiction for young women of Jane Austen's time and social position, and Austen's letters have a freedom and familiarity that only intimate writing can...

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...

'No one can write a man's life except himself.' In his Confessions Jean-Jacques Rousseau tells the story of his life, from the formative experience of his humble childhood in Geneva, through the achievement of international fame as novelist and...

The Magic Of Terry Pratchett is the first full biography of Sir Terry Pratchett ever written. Sir Terry was Britain's best-selling living author, and before his death in 2015 had sold more than 85 million copies of his books worldwide. Best known for the...

Apologies but we at Booksplease don't have a full description for this book.Book InformationISBN 9781250074836Author Emmanuel CarrereFormat PaperbackPage Count 352Imprint St. Martin's PressPublisher St. Martin's PressWeight(grams) 454gDimensions(mm)...

*A FOYLES TOP TEN READ FOR APRIL*'A superb portrait of the complex imprint the countryside makes on the life of the mind ... A treasure' Doireann Ni GhriofaIn Rural Hours, Harriet Baker tells the story of three very different women, each of whom moved to...

With an introduction by Virginia Nicholson Saturday 2 February 1918. The first walk we've had for ever so long. Damp, mild vaporous day. Funeral bells tolling as we went out, & marriage as we came in. The streets lined with people waiting their meat...

A first-hand account of the life of travel writer Dervla Murphy in which she tells of her early life in Lismore, Co. Waterford, in her rather unusual household. Her father was the county librarian and her mother a chronic invalid. An only child, Dervla...

In 1612 Shakespeare gave evidence at the Court of Requests in Westminster - it is the only occasion his spoken words are recorded. The case seems routine - a dispute over an unpaid marriage-dowry - but it opens up an unexpected window into the...

'The relationship between my grandmother and her mother was very important and indeed crucial to her childhood and the very early days of her writing ... So, to have more insight into this particular aspect of my grandmother's early life is very valuable...

An exciting new edition of Bella Bathurst's epic story of Robert Louis Stevenson's ancestors and the building of the Scottish coastal lighthouses against impossible odds. 'Whenever I smell salt water, I know that I am not far from one of the...

'I seem to have banged on this year rather more than usual. I make no apology for that, nor am I nervous that it will it make a jot of difference. I shall still be thought to be kindly, cosy and essentially harmless. I am in the pigeon-hole marked 'no...

The Times Food Book of the Year. A soul-searching memoir for foodies everywhere. Let award-winning food writer Clare Finney take you on a passionate exploration of food and love. From family feasts to comfort food, first dates to office cake; how does...

A stunning collection of essays and memoir from twice Booker Prize winner and international bestseller Hilary Mantel, author of The Mirror and the Light In 1987, when Hilary Mantel was first published in the London...

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...

‘Barbara Pym is one of my most favourite novelists. Few other writers have given me more laughter and more pleasure’ - Jilly Cooper‘I'm a huge fan of Barbara Pym’ - Richard Osman‘Could one write a book based on one’s diaries over thirty years? I...

Rooms of Their Own travels around the world examining the unique spaces, habits and rituals in which famous writers created their most notable works. The perennial question asked of all authors is, 'How do you write?'. What do they require of their room...

Monk's House in Sussex is the former home of Leonard and Virginia Woolf. It was bought by them in 1919 as a country retreat, somewhere they came to read, write and work in the garden. From the overgrown land behind the house they created a brilliant...

Discover Amos Oz's most iconic work in this extraordinary memoir that is at once a great family saga and a magical self-portrait of a writer who witnessed the birth of a nation*OVER 2 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE*'A hero of mine, a moral as well as...