A Book of Secrets
Illegitimate Daughters, Absent Fathers
Published on 3. November 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
304 pages
978-0-09-954894-2 (ISBN)
Description
A Book of Secrets is a masterfully atmospheric treasure-trove of hidden lives, uncelebrated achievements and family mysteries.
Acclaimed biographer Michael Holroyd peers into dusty corners to bring a company of unknown women into the light; Alice Keppel was the mistress of both the second Lord Grimthorpe and the Prince of Wales; Eve Fairfax was Lord Grimthorpe's abandoned fiancee and sometime muse of Auguste Rodin; and the novelist Violet Trefusis was the lover of Vita Sackville-West.
Taking the reader on a journey of discovery from Ravello to Paris, from Kirkstall Grange in Yorkshire to Vita Sackville-West's home at Knole, A Book of Secrets lucidly gives voice to fragile human connections.
Acclaimed biographer Michael Holroyd peers into dusty corners to bring a company of unknown women into the light; Alice Keppel was the mistress of both the second Lord Grimthorpe and the Prince of Wales; Eve Fairfax was Lord Grimthorpe's abandoned fiancee and sometime muse of Auguste Rodin; and the novelist Violet Trefusis was the lover of Vita Sackville-West.
Taking the reader on a journey of discovery from Ravello to Paris, from Kirkstall Grange in Yorkshire to Vita Sackville-West's home at Knole, A Book of Secrets lucidly gives voice to fragile human connections.
Reviews / Votes
A subtle paean to the art of biography. It is a biographical experiment, but a deeply humane and sensitive one. It glows with the energy of lives investigated, restored, reanimated and celebrated. -- Sarah Bakewell * Sunday Times * Here, he has given us the distilled essence of biography and a fitting end to what he evokes as "the comedy of life". -- Lisa Appignanesi * Observer * As is always the case with Holroyd, the reader comes away equally inspired, equally curious, and lavishly entertained by a story-teller of the first rank * Scotsman * A small gem of humanity, curiosity and observation with a wonderful, rolling undercurrent of comedy * Sunday Telegraph * Scintillating... Holroyd's book is a sly, inconclusive and utterly bewitching dance through the elusive narrative echoes that make up the biographer's art * Metro * A prince among biographers -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent, Christmas round up * Beautifully and immaculately written * Country Life * [The book] displays all the wisdom of a long life in a story linking the author with the lives of three extraordinary women connected over the centuries by an opulent Amalfi Coast villa * Psychologies Magazine - Mariella Frostrup * A touching story of human frailty -- Leslie McDowell * Independent on Sunday * Humane and sensitive, his book glows with the energy of lives restored, reanimated and celebrated -- Sarah Bakewell * Sunday Times *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
364 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-09-954894-2 (9780099548942)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
11/2010
1st Edition
Vintage Digital
€12.99
Available for download
Person
Besides the Lives of Augustus John, Bernard Shaw and Lytton Strachey (which was filmed as Carrington), Michael Holroyd has written two volumes of memoirs, Basil Street Blues and Mosaic. His most recent book, A Strange Eventful History, winner of the James Tait Black Prize, was a biography of two great theatrical dynasties which included Henry Irving, Ellen Terry, and her son Edward Gordon Craig. He has been president of the Royal Society of Literature and is the first non-fiction writer to have been awarded the British Literature Prize. He lives in London and Somerset with his wife, the novelist Margaret Drabble.