A skilful, moving ‘jeu d’esprit‘ turns about the life of the poet, the nature of his work, and the author’s preoccupation with him over several decades. It contains as much fiction a... read more
From the author of the biography of Shchukin comes the story of another extraordinary pre-Revolutionary Russian collector of European art. He spent 1.5 million francs on 486 paintings, which... read more
She was B-J's muse for the last 25 years of his life, but, unlike most of the other Pre-Raphaelite women, she survived into a self-determining life and was friendly with Wilde, Einstein, Asq... read more
Vol 1 was shortlisted last year for the Baillie Gifford Prize. WF knew Freud extremely well; he chronicles the colourful private life and pictures with detachment.
The author's mother came from a Sikh family that fled the Punjab in Partition; later she moved to Berlin and Washington. A fine memoir of family whose identity and roots have been complicate... read more
There are those who swear he was a spy, others who insist he was too scatty or essentially lazy to be one. Whatever the truth, he was an exceptional linguist (Iranian, Afghan Persian, Arabic... read more
A biography of the sculptor Stephen Tomlin, a man of devastating attractions on the fringes of the Bloomsbury Group who seems to have gone to bed with most of the people he met and then dran... read more