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Home>mylibrarycurrent>Biography Recent Picks
Biography Recent Picks
March 2003 
The title-underlined links will take you directly to our catalogue.
Some featured items are linked via a book cover to enable you to read more reviews.
Slipstream : a memoir by Elizabeth Jane Howard. (2002)
"Born in London in 1923, Elizabeth Jane Howard was privately educated at home, moving on to short-lived careers as an actress and model, before writing her first acclaimed novel, Falling... She has been married three times - firstly to Peter Scott, the naturalist and son of Captain Scott, and most famously and tempestuously to Kingsley Amis. It was Amis' son by another marriage, Martin, to whom she introduced the works of Jane Austen and ensured that he received the education that would be the grounding of his own literary career. Her closest friends have included some of the greatest writers and thinkers of the day - Laurie Lee, Arthur Koestler and Cecil Day-Lewis, among others. Slipstream is honest and unflinching, it illuminates the literary world of the latter half of the 20th century, as well as giving a personal insight into the life of Elizabeth Jane Howard." (Amazon)
| Things my mother never told me by Blake Morrison. (2002)
"The impact of Blake Morrison's memoir And When Did You Last See Your Father was considerable: in prose that combined lucidity and beauty with uncompromising honesty, Morrison granted the reader an insight into a family drama quite unlike anything we had encountered before - a virtual classic of literature about the family. In that book, Morrison's mother was presented as a shadowy, usually silent figure; in Things My Mother Never Told Me, we are given her story, and it's every bit as fascinating as anything in the earlier book. As before, the central themes of the new book concern secrets, and the slow unfolding of an (often painful) truth. Morrison's mother kept many things from him - not least the fact that she never told him that before becoming Kim Morrison, she had previously been Agnes O'Shea, daughter of sizeable Irish family. Morrison tells us he was only vaguely aware of his Irish relations - but that was only one of the many revelations awaiting him. " (Amazon.co.uk)
| Arbella : England's lost queen by Sarah Gristwood. (2002)
"Taking as its background one of the most famous periods of British history, Sarah Gristwood's historical biography focuses on a hitherto forgotten figure: Arbella Stuart, the niece of Mary Queen of Scots and first cousin to James VI of Scotland. Orphaned as a baby, brought up by her powerful and ambitious grandmother, the four-times married Bess of Hardwick, introduced at court as a young girl where she was acknowledged as her heir by Elizabeth I, Arbella's right to the English throne was equalled only by James. Kept under close supervision by her grandmother, first at Chatsworth and later at Hardwick Hall, but still surrounded by plots most of them Roman Catholic in origin she became an important pawn in the struggle for succession." (Amazon.co.uk)
| How I came into my inheritance, and other true stories by Dorothy Gallagher. (2001)
Dorothy Gallagher's parents were Russian-immigrant Jews who lived in Washington Heights yet continued to swear allegiance to Marx and Stalin They were totally unaware of the new new world in which their daughter had to make her way, but despite the difficulties she made a successful life for herself, becoming a magazine editor and writer and marrying happily.
A staff favourite from last year.
| Don't let's go to the dogs tonight : an African childhood by Alexandra Fuller. (2002)
An unsentimental, wonderfully evocative reminiscence of the author's childhood with her colonial farming parents in three African states - Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) during the guerilla war, Malawi and Zambia. The cruel climate and the vicissitudes of an unsettled life cost her parents their first farm and three of their five children and tipped them into alcoholism, but they were both fiercely courageous and continued to get the best out of life, as did their remarkable daughter.
Another staff favourite from last year.
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Imperial marriage : an Edwardian war and peace by Hugh and Mirabel Cecil. (2002)
A picture of the British aristocratic world during its last period of real influence, this is the story Lord Edward Cecil and his wife the former Violet Maxse and their life in colonial South Africa. There the attractive Violet met Alfred Milner, a scholarship boy who rose to the post of High Commissioner.
He became the love of Violet's life, and on Edward's death the couple were able to spend four happy years together.
The unwanted: a memoir by Kien Nguyen. (2002)
This is the story of a young blue eyed, fair haired Americasian child left behind after the Vietnam War. His distinctive colouring and looks confirmed his status as 'most unwanted' - a reminder of the American presence in the country and collaboration between Vietnamese women and foreign servicemen. The author traces his difficult life in Vietnam until his escape to America in 1985.
Brief encounters: meetings with remarkable people by Gyles Brandreth. (2002)
A series of articles on British actors, politicians and celebrities written in the bright and breezy style familiar to those who know Gyles Branreth's work. Most of these interviews have appeared in leading British newspapers, notably 'The Daily Telegraph'.
Uncle Tungsten : memories of a chemical boyhood by Oliver Sacks. (2001)
The world famous neurologist and author of several best selling books recounts his memories of the time he was evacuated during the second world war, the horror of the Dickensian conditions he endured and his efforts to impose order on the world on his return to his family through the periodic table, numbers and metals.
The history makers: adventures in New Zealand biography by Vaughan Yarwood. (2002)
A collection of fully illustrated biographical portraits of outstanding New Zealanders, including Sir George Grey, Richard Pearse, Suzanne Aubert and James K. Baxter.
Freud ego by Clement Freud. (2001)
Clement Freud arrived in England and was despatched to a notorious 'progressive' school, where he spent more time drinking cider than attending lessons. After an eccentric childhood, and a spell as an apprentice chef at the Dorchester Hotel, things went downhill as Clement became a soldier, night-club owner, journalist, television personality and Liberal MP. By the end of Freud Ego, Clement is celebrating his win at the Ely by-election...a contest for which he backed himself 33-1." (Book Jacket)
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