BA, aka Lady Black, has led "more colourful lives than the most exotic Cheshire Cat", quoth Sir Elton John. Trailed as a candid account of a fairly kaleidoscopic existence, from not-quite-ra... read more
There have been many books on Plath, but this is in fact the first full biography. Sensitive and perceptive, it navigates both the controversies and poetry with skill.
Grandson of an attainted Jacobite, the last Earl of Seaforth climbed volcanoes with William Hamilton and entertained young Mozart in Naples while on the Grand Tour. His marriage to a fashion... read more
An English translation of Ernaux's memoir about her father and life in small-town France, first published in 1984: a counterpart to 'A Woman's Story' published in English last year. Both are... read more
This skilful, moving jeu d'esprit could just as well be in the fiction section. It's about both the poet and the author's preoccupation with him, and contains as much fiction as fact. If you... read more
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
The former Editor of the Financial Times (2005-2020) was scribbling away during the tech boom, the global financial crisis, the rise of China, Brexit, etc...
CC is the distinguished Australian publisher who founded Virago. Her forebear was transported for seven years for stealing a piece of hemp, but managed to prosper in Australia. He returned t... read more
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
A curator of fashion at the V&A for most of her working life, CW uses her experience and sensitivity to clothes to explore how, in her own family's life, the secrets of clothes measure out t... read more
The first biography of this much loved author, bonne vivante, European, and John Sandoe customer, mentored by Aldous Huxley. Hastings' earlier biographical subjects include Somerset Maugham,... read more
An ironic moment, perhaps, for a major new biography of the man who first uttered, 'The lamps are going out all over Europe' (August, 1914)... Grey remains the longest-ever serving Foreign S... read more