Biography: writers

In this accessible book, His Holiness the Dalai Lama considers such well-known Gospel passages as the Sermon on the Mount, the Healing of the Sick and the Resurrection.

How does a novelist write about the facts of his life after spending years fictionalising those facts with irrepressible daring and originality?

'Martin Amis is a seriously good writer, and never on better form than now.

The shocking, heart-breaking - and often very funny - true story behind Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit.

'George Sand' (Aurore Dupin, 1804-1876) was France's bestselling writer, rivalled in her time only by Victor Hugo.

Airman, war hero, immigrant, law student, diplomat, novelist and celebrity spouse, Romain Gary had several lives thrust upon him by the history of the twentieth century, but he also aspired to lead many more.

The first volume of John Fowles's Journals ended with him achieving international literary renown after the publication of The Collector and The Magus, and leaving London behind to live in a remote house near Lyme Regis.

In 1963 John Fowles won international recognition with his first published novel The Collector.

In the early 80s, after a decade of drug abuse and borderline mental illness, John Burnside resolved to escape his addictive personality and find calm in a 'Surbiton of the mind'.

Philip Roth is the voice of our times.

Here, for the first time, is a riveting collection of Fowles's fugitive and intensely personal writings composed sinced 1963, ranging from essays and literary criticism to commentaries, autobiographical statements, memoirs and musings.

Leigh Hunt is the forgotten giant of English Romanticism.

The Great British Bake Off finalist shares delicious bread recipes that rise to every occasion-loaves of all shapes to suit all tastes.

"e;Wonderful .

A fascinating, evocative account of 19th-century London, so well-known from Charles Dickens' much-loved novels.

Journey to the seventeenth century and a dramatic period of political upheaval, plague, and fire, with this "e;vivid portrait of Restoration England"e; (History Today).

Fiona MacCarthy makes a breakthrough in interpreting Byron's life and poetry drawing on John Murray's world-famous archive.

Wendy Cope has long been one of the nation's best-loved poets, with her sharp eye for human foibles and wry sense of humour.

In this vivacious memoir, Thomas Keneally conjures up his youthful self at a pivotal period in his life - as a red-haired teenager who idolised Gerald Manley Hopkins, had visions of being a sporting hero, and dreamed of winning the heart of the alluring Bernadette Curran.

What if you could ask C.

FROM THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF WHAT I LOVED AND A WOMAN LOOKING AT MEN LOOKING AT WOMEN'Lucid, absorbing and vigorous'Independent'Richly intelligent'Financial TimesIn these fascinating essays, Siri Hustvedt shows what lies behind her fiction: an abiding curiosity about who we are and how we got that way.

When we think of great events in the history of the world, we tend to think of war, revolution, political upheaval or natural catastrophe.

Discover the long-kept secrets of literature's leading ladyYou've read Emma.

FIREBRAND IS NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING ALICIA VIKANDER AND JUDE LAWFor fans of Wolf Hall and the BBC's The White QueenDive into Elizabeth Fremantle's vivid Tudor England and meet the woman who survived Henry VIII---My name is Katherine Parr.

A New York Times Notable Book of the YearWinner of the Istvan Hont Book Prize, Institute of Intellectual HistoryFinalist for the Cundill History PrizeA sweeping history of the rise of personal choice in the modern world and how it became equated with freedomChoice touches virtually every aspect of our lives, from what to buy and where to live to whom to love, what profession to practice, and even what to believe.

A canceled bestselling author's highly personal account of his public scandala scandal that was reported on the front page of the New York Times and throughout the world.

Christopher Marlowe, eine der faszinierendsten Figuren der englischen Renaissance, war nicht nur ein außergewöhnlicher Dramatiker, sondern auch ein Mensch voller Rätsel.

For the first time, novelist Iris Murdoch's life in her own words, from girlhood to her last yearsIris Murdoch was an acclaimed novelist and groundbreaking philosopher whose life reflected her unconventional beliefs and values.

The classic biography of Alfred Wainwright.

Nevil Shute was a power and a pioneer in the world of flying long before he began to write the stories that made him a bestselling novelist.

Autobiographical without being an autobiography, confessional without disclosing his private self, The Summing Up, written when Maugham was sixty-four, is an inimitable expression of a personal credo.

Henry Green wrote his autobiography in 1940, aged only thirty-five, because he was convinced he wouldn't survive the war.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JAY MCINERNEYJohn Cheever's letters offer a tantalising glimpse into the life of a writer.

The remarkable transformation of Orwell from journeyman writer to towering iconIs George Orwell the most influential writer who ever lived?

Peeling the Onion is a searingly honest account of Grass' modest upbringing in Danzig, his time as a boy soldier fighting the Russians, and the writing of his masterpiece, The Tin Drum, in Paris.

'A powerful novel of expectation, love, oppression, sin, religion and betrayal' Daily Mail When the mysterious and beautiful young widow Helen Graham becomes the new tenant at Wildfell Hall rumours immediately begin to swirl around her.

A delightful insight into the formation of an artist who would become one of the world's most respected writers.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION'Vivid and empowering' GILLIAN ANDERSON'A stunning book' BERNARDINE EVARISTO'Dazzling' TARA WESTOVER'A story about hope, imagination and resilience'GUARDIANAn award-winning, inspiring memoir of family, education and resilience.

Christopher Fowler's memoir captures life in suburban London as it has rarely been seen: through the eyes of a lonely boy who spends his days between the library and the cinema, devouring novels, comics, cereal packets - anything that might reveal a story.

When James Matthew Barrie died, in 1937, his funeral was an occasion for national mourning.

In the Middle Ages, mules were used to transport goods across Britain.

In 1944, at the age of five, William Graves was taken from England to the delightful mountain village of Deya in Majorca, where his father - the poet Robert Graves - had returned with his new family to the place he had lived with Laura Riding before the war.

What has made women unhappy in the last decade?

You've installed your breadmaker in your kitchen, bought a couple of books and made delicious breads with rye flour, with seeds on top or even with chocolate and hazelnuts.

Literature Book of the Year, Sunday Times'Terrific' Guardian'Enthralling' Spectator'Magisterial' Daily Telegraph'Unsurpassable' New York Review of BooksBy the time Herzog was published in 1964, Saul Bellow was probably the most acclaimed novelist in America, described in later years by the critic James Wood as the greatest writer of American prose in the twentieth century.

Winner of the James Tait Black Prize for Biography 2014Winner of the Plutarch Award for Best BiographyNew York Times Book Review s 10 Best Books of the YearPenelope Fitzgerald (1916 2000) was a great English writer, who would never have described herself in such grand terms.

Orwell has become one of the most potent and symbolic figures in western political thought.

A moving, unforgettable memoir of two lost men: a father and his child.

Each house, like each place, has its own topography, its own lore.