Biography Recent Picks

February 2010

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Captivated : J.M. Barrie, the du Mauriers and the dark side of Neverland, Piers Dudgeon.
""Captivated" is a true story of genius and possession. The background is the turn of the century, when a late-nineteenth-century world of mesmerists, psychics, trancers and table-turners gave way to a new twentieth-century age of psychology. The central character is the creator of Peter Pan, the famous novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie, a man tormented by inner demons since childhood. Barrie developed a consuming interest in the du Maurier family, beginning with George du Maurier, author of "Trilby", a bestselling novel featuring his creation Svengali.In "Trilby", George showed how it is possible, by means of hypnosis, for one person to gain control over the mind of another. Barrie made his move on the du Maurier family immediately after George died, assuming George's mantel and using his ideas to dominate both his daughter Sylvia and his son Gerald. Soon Barrie was 'Uncle Jim' to Sylvia's five sons and Gerald's three daughters, playing romping games of adventure and make-believe, and inviting the children into the transcendental world of Neverland.Four of the boys (the 'lost boys' of Peter Pan) and one of the girls (the imaginative tomboy Daphne) were captivated. This fascinating book delves deep, makes links and yields up secrets. It is a story of bliss corrupted by greed which masquerades as supernatural power. " (Amazon.co,uk)

Louisa May Alcott : the woman behind Little women, Harriet Reisen.
"A vivid, energetic account of the life of Louisa May Alcott, the first complete biography of the beloved author whose work has delighted millions of readers Louisa May Alcott portrays a writer as worthy of interest in her own right as her most famous character, Jo March, and addresses all aspects of Alcott s life: the effect of her father s self-indulgent utopian schemes; her family s chronic economic difficulties and frequent uprootings; her experience as a nurse in the Civil War; the loss of her health and frequent recourse to opiates in search of relief from migraines, insomnia, and symptomatic pain. Stories and details culled from Alcott s journals; her equally rich letters to family, friends, publishers, and admiring readers; and the correspondence, journals, and recollections of her family, friends, and famous contemporaries provide the basis for this lively account of the author s classic rags-to-riches tale. Alcott would become the equivalent of a multimillionaire in her lifetime based on the astounding sales of her books, leaving contemporaries like Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Henry James in the dust. This biography explores Alcott s life in the context of her works, all of which are to some extent autobiographical. A fresh, modern take on this remarkable and prolific writer, who secretly authored pulp fiction, harbored radical abolitionist views, and completed heroic service as a Civil War nurse, Louisa May Alcott is in the end also the story of how the all-time beloved American classic Little Women came to be. This revelatory portrait will present the popular author as she was and as she has never been seen before." (Amazon.co.uk)

Manhood for amateurs : the pleasures and regrets of a husband, father, and son, by Michael Chabon.
"An entertaining omnibus of opinionated essays previously published mostly in Details magazine spotlights novelist Chabon's (The Yiddish Policemen's Union) model of being an attentive, honest father and a fairly observant Jew. Living in Berkeley, Calif., raising four children with his wife, Ayelet Waldman, who has also just published a collection of parenting stories (Bad Mother), Chabon, at 45, revisits his own years growing up in the 1970s with a mixture of rue and relief. A child of the suburbs of Maryland and elsewhere, where children could still play in what he calls in one essay the Wilderness of Childhood, he enjoyed a freedom now lost to kids, endured the divorce of his parents, smoked a lot of pot, suffered a short early marriage and finally found his life's partner, who takes risks where he won't. The essays are tidily arranged around themes of manly affection (his first father-in-law, his younger brother); styles of manhood, such as faking at being a handyman; and patterns of early enchantment, such as his delight in comic books, sci-fi and stargazing. Candid, warm and humorous, Chabon's essays display his habitual attention to craft." (Publishers Weekly)

Friends like these : my worldwide quest to find my best childhood friends, knock on their doors, and ask them to come out and play, Danny Wallace ; with illustrations by Daniel Wallace.
"Wallace is about to turn thirty and his life has become a cliché. Recently married and living in a smart new area of town, he’s swapped pints for lattes and had even contemplated buying coasters. Something wasn’t right – he was feeling way too grown-up.Until - Danny finds an old address book containing just twelve names. His best mates as a kid. Where are they now? Who are they now? And how are they coping with this scary concept of being grown-up?And so begins a journey from A-Z, tracking down and meeting his old gang. He travels from Berlin to Tokyo, from Sydney to LA. He even goes to Loughborough. He meets Fijian chiefs. German rappers. Some ninjas. And a carvery manager who's managed to solve time travel. But how will they respond to a man they haven’t seen in twenty years, turning up and asking if they’re coming out to play?Friends Like These is the story of what can happen when you track down your past, and of where the friendships you thought you'd outgrown can take you today..." (Amazon.co.uk)

Paris and her remarkable women, Lorraine Liscio.
"This book evokes Paris from the MIddle Ages through the twentieth century by tracing sixteen exceptional women whose lives intersected with Paris in remarkable ways and whose eventual fame depended on the city itself. Their stories bring to life medieval culture, Enlightenment ideas, the court of Louis XiV, the chaos of the Revolution, the nineteenth-century art scene, and twentieth-century breakthroughs in science and fashion."

"The sites associated with each of these women are located in the central parts of Paris that most visitors explore. When visiting Notre Dame, the reader will see the tragic figures of Abélard and Héloise in its shadows, and know to look for the enigmatic sculpture of Genevieve on the cathedral's facade. Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun's paintings in the Louvre and Camille Claudel's sculptures in the Rodin Museum will be all the more fascinating after readers have learned of the controversy they provoked."

"Even those women whom most people thought they knew may prove surprising. Who would have guessed at the relation between Coco Chanel's convent-school origins and her fashions? What are we to make of Emilie du Chatelet's fame as Voltaire's mistress when he touts her as a "great man whose only fault was being a woman” (Amazon.co.uk)

Churchill, Paul Johnson.
"This book applies a wide lens and an unconventional approach to illuminate the various phases of Churchill's career. From his adventures as a young cavalry officer in ther service of the Empire to his role as an elder statesman prophesying the advent of the Cold War, eminent historian Paul Johnson shows how Churchill's immense adaptability combined with his natural pugnacity to make him a formidable leader. Johnson's narration of Churchill's many triumphs and setbacks, rich with anecdote and quotation, illustrates the man's humour, resilience and courage as never before." (Amazon.co.uk)

A warrior's life : a biography of Paulo Coelho, by Fernando Morais.
"Paulo Coelho is a worldwide phenomenon. At a time when he is coming up to the fantastic achievement of 100 million copies sold worldwide across all his books, his fans will be delighted with the first ever official biography of Paulo, an in-depth look at his life and work, and what makes him the much-loved author he is today. Paulo's first official biographer, Fernando Morais, provides an exhaustive look at Paulo's fascinating and varied life, taking several years to research his subject, and interviewing everyone who knows Paulo. He weaves together the strands of Paulo's life, revealing the man behind the world-famous writer. Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August 1947. Before he became internationally known and a worldwide bestseller, he had to overcome many obstacles. In 1986 Paulo walked the Road to Santiago, and it was there that he reconverted to Christianity and found again the faith bequeathed to him by the Jesuit fathers of his school years. He would later describe this experience in his first book, The Pilgrimage. The following year, The Alchemist, established his worldwide reputation. The novel has already achieved the status of a universally admired modern classic. Now, for the first time, discover the true story of the man behind some of the world's most loved books." (Amazon.co.uk)

Music & men : the life and loves of Harriet Cohen, Helen Fry.
"It was during the turbulent decade of the First World War that the intensely gifted and beautiful Harriet Cohen established herself as a pianist. Enjoying huge success in her professional life, she was the first person outside the Soviet Union to play the music of the modern Soviet composers and was a huge success in America and throughout Europe. Her beauty and talent made her one of the most talked-about and photographed musicians of her day. Yet it was in her private life that the story of this extraordinarily talented young woman becomes one of the greatest love stories of all time. Her passionate love affair with the composer Sir Arnold Bax spanned more than thirty years. Their infatuation was played out against the backdrop of the First World War, and was peppered with betrayal, lust and tragedy. Their letters, published here for the first time, are among the most explicit of any written during that time and are staggering in their passion and poetry. Brilliant author Helen Fry tells for the first time the remarkable story of this forgotten woman. Music and Men tells of Harriet Cohen’s friendships and relationships - with leading figures from every walk of life, from George Bernard Shaw to D.H. Lawrence and H.G. Wells, Sir Edward Elgar, Albert Einstein, Arnold Bennett, Vaughan Williams, Ramsey MacDonald and Eleanor Roosevelt. Offering an insight into the politics, arts and culture of the day, this incredible new biography tells the poignant story of a beautiful, possessive, flirtatious and determined musician." (Amazon.co.uk)

Che Guevara : a life, Nick Caistor.
"At Last, at last, a biography of Che Guevara for grown-ups! Nick Caistor, well-known for years as a commentator on Latin America for the BBC, has produced a study of a man who is all too often treated either as a plaster saint incapable of doing wrong or as some devil from the deepest pit of Marxism-Leninism. Caistor portrays him with sympathy and elegance as what he was, a human being with doubts and weaknesses, which he combined with a devotion to the world's poor." --Hugh O'Shaughnessy, journalist (Book cover)

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