Biography: literary

Lara: The Untold Love Story That Inspired Doctor Zhivago

‘Riveting, tragic tale’ New Yorker

‘Anna Pasternak has produced an irresistible account of joy, suffering and passion’ Financial Times

The heartbreaking story of the passionate love affair between Boris Pasternak and Olga Ivinskaya – the tragic true story that inspired Doctor Zhivago.

Catullus’ Bedspread: The Life of Rome’s Most Erotic Poet

A biography of Gaius Valerius Catullus, Rome’s first great poet, a dandy who fell in love with another man’s wife and made it known to the world through his verse.

This superb book gives a rare portrait of life during one of the most critical moments in world history through the eyes of one of Rome’s greatest writers.

George MacDonald

An 365-day anthology of readings from one of the most influential writers of all time, George MacDonald, compiled by CS Lewis himself.

A House in St John’s Wood: In Search of My Parents

An intimate portrait of Stephen Spender’s extraordinary life written by Matthew Spender, shifting between memoir and biography, with new insights drawn from personal recollections and his father’s copious unpublished archives.

Storyteller: The Life of Roald Dahl

The authorised biography of one of the greatest storytellers of all time, written with complete access to the archives stored in the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre.

Ted Hughes: The Unauthorised Life

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2015 SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE

‘Gripping and at times ineffably sad, this book would be poetic even without the poetry. It will be the standard biography of Ted Hughes for a long time to come’ Sunday Times

‘Seldom has the life of a writer rattled along with such furious activity … A moving, fascinating biography’ The Times

The Poems of Catullus

Written in the twilight of the Roman Republic, the poetry of Gaius Valerius Catullus offers a delicious insight into the passions and gossip of high Roman society.

Behind the Mask: The Life of Vita Sackville-West

Aristocrat, literary celebrity, ‘Rose Queen’, devoted wife, lesbian, recluse, iconoclast – Vita Sackville-West was many things, but she was never straightforward. Her life is re-told here in a dazzling new biography.

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