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 determination to educate himself at any cost, to the serious ill health that dominated his twenties and thirties, his complicated marriages, and love affair with socialism, the first forty years of H. G. Wells' extraordinary life would set him on a path to become one of the world's most influential writers. The sudden success of The Time Machine and The War of The Worlds transformed his life and catapulted him to international fame; he became the writer who most inspired Orwell and countless others, and predicted men walking on the moon seventy years before it happened.

In this remarkable, empathetic biography, Claire Tomalin paints a fascinating portrait of a man like no other, driven by curiosity and desiring reform, a socialist and a futurist whose new and imaginative worlds continue to inspire today.

'Claire Tomalin is my favourite biographer and I'm desperate to get my hands on her latest, The Young H. G. Wells' Elizabeth Day

'The finest of biographers' Hilary Mantel

'A most intelligent and sympathetic biographer' Daily Telegraph

'One of the best biographers of her generation' Guardian

'A deft and informative account which brings its subject vividly to life' TLS

'Richly informative... Tomalin admits that, although she set out to write about the young Wells, she has followed him into his forties because she found him 'too interesting to leave'. The same can be said of her book' Sunday Times

About the Author
Claire Tomalin is the author of seven highly acclaimed biographies, including her most recent autobiography 'A Life of My Own', which was a Sunday Times bestseller. Her previous book on Dickens, The Invisible Woman, an account of his relationship with the actress Ellen Ternan, won three major literary prizes. A former literary editor of the New Statesman and the Sunday Times, she is married to the playwright and novelist Michael Frayn.

Reviews
A most intelligent and sympathetic biographer... she writes well and wittily * Daily Telegraph *
One of the best biographers of her generation * Guardian *
Tomalin knows how to tell a cracking story * Daily Mail *
Sprightly, generous... Claire Tomalin's restrained biography of the prolific writer and philanderer's early years lets readers reach their own verdict on his life and deeds * Guardian Book of the Day *
Richly informative... Tomalin admits that, although she set out to write about the young Wells, she has followed him into his forties because she found him 'too interesting to leave'. The same can be said of her book * Sunday Times *
A new biography by Claire Tomalin is always an event...the style is as well-researched and engaging as ever, her treatment of the complicated personal life of Wells as sensitively and carefully handled as in the Dickens...this is a wonderfully readable and fascinating account of the life of HG wells, and deserves a wide readership * Irish Times *
In this brilliantly engaging story of the first 40 years of Well's life, Claire Tomalin cannot hide her admiration for a man who never forgot what it felt like to be hungry * Mail on Sunday *
Claire Tomalin is my favourite biographer and I'm desperate to get my hands on her latest, The Young H. G. Wells. I'd be thrilled to find this under the tree on Christmas Day -- Elizabeth Day
This is a fine and very enjoyable biography of an extraordinary man and his times. Wells is still relevant, still matters. It's good that Tomalin reminds us of how remarkable he was * Scotsman *
A deft and informative account which brings its subject vividly to life * TLS *
Focusing on the first four decades of Wells' life, Tomalin lays bare both his work ethic (he'd turn out 7,000 words a day) and relentless philandering in peerless prose * Financial Times, Best Books of 2021 *
The life of HG Wells, from childhood to the height of his literary success, is told by one of our leading biographers - a tale of prodigious energy in the study, and the bedroom * The Times, Best Books of 2021 *
For a compact overview of this endlessly fascinating man and writer, Tomalin's 'The Young H.G. Wells' is hard to beat, being friendly, astute and a pleasure to read * Washington Post *
With a flair for colour, pace and plot that matches her subject's, Tomalin does not bury Wells under a monumental tombstone. Instead, her dynamic sketch invites readers to discover - or rediscover - why that volcano still spits fire to light up a changing world -- Boyd Tonkin * Arts Desk *



Book Information
ISBN 9780241239971
Author Claire Tomalin
Format Hardback
Page Count 272
Imprint Viking
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 498g
Dimensions(mm) 240mm * 162mm * 28mm