Biography: literary

From her first life-changing solo trip to Australia as a young graduate, Rosita Boland was enthralled by travel. In the last thirty years she has visited some of the most remote parts of the globe carrying little more than a battered rucksack and a diary.Documenting nine journeys from nine differ...

The first English language biography of the great European writer Joseph Roth, this book explores his genius and his tragic life story, lived in the shadow of war.

From the fourteenth century through to the present day, women who write have been understood as mad, undisciplined or dangerous. Female writers have always had to find ways to overcome or challenge these beliefs. Some were cautious and discreet, some didn't give a damn, but all lived complex, eve...

From the fourteenth century through to the present day, women who write have been understood as mad, undisciplined or dangerous. Female writers have always had to find ways to overcome or challenge these beliefs. Some were cautious and discreet, some didn't give a damn, but all lived complex, eve...

Based on a rich repository of primary evidence, much only recently uncovered, this book corrects the accidental inaccuracies and deliberate distortions that have circulated around one of Bloomsbury's most gossiped-about, enigmatic couples, while unveiling fascinating new discoveries that give a m...

In the early 18th century, Newstead Abbey was among the most admired aristocratic homes in England. It was the abode of William, 4th Baron Byron - a popular amateur composer and artist - and his teenage wife Frances. But by the end of the century, the building had become a crumbling and ill-cared...

Polly Morland was clearing her late mother's house when she found a battered paperback fallen behind the family bookshelf. Opening it, she was astonished to see an old photograph of the remote, wooded valley in which she lives. The book was 'A Fortunate Man', John Berger's classic account of a co...

Polly Morland was clearing her late mother's house when she found a battered paperback fallen behind the family bookshelf. Opening it, she was astonished to see an old photograph of the remote, wooded valley in which she lives. The book was 'A Fortunate Man', John Berger's classic account of a co...

This is a visual memoir of Alice Walker's remarkable life as a novelist, essayist, poet, and activist in candid photographs, manuscript drafts - including handwritten drafts of 'The Color Purple' - letters and other selections from the personal archive she started keeping when she was 14. These r...

A journey through the life and thought of George Orwell, from public school satirist and imperial policeman to 'Animal Farm' and '1984'.