Those who read Clare's Something of His Art, about J S Bach, or The Light in the Dark: A Winter Journal (or others) will know that Clare is a writer of exquisite sensibility and nuance. He i... read more
A group biography of five women at Oxford in the early C20th who pioneered the study of remote communities in Siberia, Egypt, New Mexico and Easter Island. The women were Katherine Routledge... read more
The story of the son of a Parsi-convert vicar near Birmingham who, convicted for mutilating horses and writing threatening letters to the vicar, contacted Conan Doyle to unravel the mystery ... read more
First vol of the unexpurgated diaries, with the second due in the autumn. (A selection was published in 1967 but there was a 60-year embargo on the full text.)
In this inspired recreation of her parents' hopes and lives, MW has created a vivid memoir of post-war childhood and adventure in Cairo, Italy and London.
This remarkable volume was published by the Memorial Human Rights Centre, a Russian civil rights group . It tells the stories of 16 men - mostly members of the intelligentsia, and loyal Sovi... read more
My theory and practice is to say yes to life and then I'll see how I manage along the way. Part memoir, part manifesto of a fiercely independent spirit; intelligent and lyrical.
The second volume of a beautifully published pair of LL's famous memoirs, in which the young man leaves his beloved village of Slad for London and then walks and busks his way around Spain.... read more
Uncovers the illicit affair between the novelist and the author's grandfather, Humphry House, which Parry discovered on being delivered a box of letters.
Joan Leigh Fermor's biographer turns to Eddy Sackville-West, Desmon Shawe-Taylor and Eardley Knollys and the unusual salon they created at Long Crichel in Dorset, where Nancy Mitford, Benjam... read more
MS is an outstanding literary voice in contemporary Russia: here she creates a portrait of three Russian-Jewish generations sifted from the detritus in a late aunt's flat. This book is diff... read more
Despite his prominence as a crucial figure in China's struggle against deforestation, Purdom (1880-1921) has been largely overlooked by history. He lived a short, quietly heroic life, campai... read more
Kneale knows the city like few others (viz his Rome: A History in Seven Sackings, pbk £10.99). His writing is also a delight, so his account of lockdown is worth reading.
Looks closely at nine of his best known poems to see how this lower-middle-class outsider from a dysfunctional family became one of posterity's darlings.
Published in February, we missed this from our last list. Jeremy Heywood served under four Prime Ministers in various roles including as the first and only Permanent Secretary of 10 Downing ... read more