Claire Tomalin

Recounts the life of the English novelist, and reveals how her works both reflected her times and differed from the world she experienced.

A Life

Jane Austen

The Whitbread Book of the Year Award-winning author of Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self chronicles the story of the 19th-century literary master from the challenges he faced as the imprisoned son of a profligate father, his rise to one of England's foremost novelists and the personal demons that challenged his relationships. 50,000 first printing.

Charles Dickens

Witty, courageous and unconventional, Mary Wollstonecraft was one of the most controversial figures of her day. She published �A Vindication of the Rights of Woman�; travelled to revolutionary France and lived through the Terror and the destruction of the incipient French feminist movement; produced an illegitimate daughter; and married William Godwin before dying in childbed at the age of thirty-eight. Often embattled and bitterly disappointed, she never gave up her radical ideas or her belief that courage and honesty would triumph over convention. Winner of the Whitbread First Book Prize in 1974, this haunting biography achieved wide critical acclaim. Writing in the New Statesman, J H Plumb called it, �Wide, penetrating, sympathetic. There is no better book on Mary Wollstonecraft, nor is there likely to be�.

The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft

The Whitbread Award-winning biography of the master diarist and chronicler of Restoration London draws on the famous diaries, as well as on other sources and period material, to furnish a candid chronicle of the life and times of Samuel Pepys, answering questions about his relations with women, triumphs and near disasters, youth, and other lesser known aspects of his life. Reprint. 30,000 first printing.

The Unequalled Self

Samuel Pepys

The Invisible Woman

Esteemed biographer and legendary literary editor Claire Tomalin's stunning memoir of a life in literature “[An] intelligent and humane book…There is genuine appeal in watching this indomitable woman continue to chase the next draft of herself." —Dwight Garner, The New York Times In A Life of My Own, the renowned biographer of Charles Dickens, Samuel Pepys, and Thomas Hardy, and former literary editor for the Sunday Times reflects on a remarkable life surrounded by writers and books. From discovering books as a form of escapism during her parents' difficult divorce, to pursuing poetry at Cambridge, where she meets and marries Nicholas Tomalin, the ambitious and striving journalist, Tomalin always steered herself towards a passionate involvement with art. She relives the glittering London literary scene of the 1960s, during which Tomalin endured her husband's constant philandering and numerous affairs, and revisits the satisfaction of being commissioned to write her first book, a biography of the early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. In biography, she found her vocation. However, when Nick is killed in 1973 while reporting in Israel, the mother of four put aside her writing to assume the position of literary editor of the New Statesman. Her career soared when she later moved to the Sunday Times, and she tells with dazzling candor of this time in her life spent working alongside the literary lights of 1970s London. But, the pain of her young daughter's suicide and the challenges of caring for her disabled son as a single mother test Claire's strength and persistence. It is not until later in life that she is able to return to what gave her such purpose decades ago, writing biographies, and finds enduring love with her now-husband, playwright Michael Frayn. Marked by honesty, humility, and grace, rendered in the most elegant of prose, A Life of My Own is a portrait of a life, replete with joy and heartbreak. With quiet insight and unsparing clarity, Tomalin writes autobiography at its most luminous, delivering an astonishing and emotionally-taut masterpiece.

A Memoir

A Life of My Own

Pursuing art and adventure across Europe, Katherine Mansfield lived and wrote with the Furies on her heels; but when she died aged only thirty-four she became one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. Sexually ambiguous, craving love yet quarrelsome and capricious, she glittered in the brilliant circles of D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf, her beauty and recklessness inspiring admiration, jealousy, rage and devotion. Claire Tomalin�s biography brings us nearer than we have ever been to this courageous, greatly gifted, haunted and haunting writer.

A Secret Life

Katherine Mansfield

Shelley and His World

Thomas Hardy

The tumultuous life of England's greatest novelist, beautifully rendered by unparalleled literary biographer Claire Tomalin.

A fascinating journey into the life of H.G. Wells, from one of Britain's best biographers - available for pre-order now How did the first forty years of H. G. Wells' life shape the father of science fiction? From his impoverished childhood in a working-class English family, to his determination to educate himself at any cost, to the serious ill health that dominated his twenties and thirties, his complicated marriages, and love affair with socialism, the first forty years of H. G. Wells' extraordinary life would set him on a path to become one of the world's most influential writers. The sudden success of The Time Machine and The War of The Worlds transformed his life and catapulted him to international fame; he became the writer who most inspired Orwell and countless others, and predicted men walking on the moon seventy years before it happened. In this remarkable, empathetic biography, Claire Tomalin paints a fascinating portrait of a man like no other, driven by curiosity and desiring reform, a socialist and a futurist whose new and imaginative worlds continue to inspire today. 'The finest of biographers' Hilary Mantel 'A most intelligent and sympathetic biographer' Daily Telegraph 'One of the best biographers of her generation' Guardian

Changing the World

The Young H. G. Wells

"A l'enfant, pour qui les livres étaient un refuge. A la petite fille que son imagination entraînait dans des directions surprenantes à mesure qu'elle se découvrait le pouvoir de raconter des histoires. A la jeune fille énergique qui aimait danser et plaisanter ; qui rêvait d'un mari et s'exerçait à écrire des romans de toute la force de son intelligence. A la jeune personne de vingt-cinq ans qui jugea qu'elle n'aimait pas les gens et qu'elle ne pouvait plus écrire qui fut tentée de faire un mariage rassurant et sans amour et en repoussa la tentation. A la femme qui donnait son amitié aux gouvernantes et aux domestiques. A l'auteur publié, rayonnant de sa réussite et de la maîtrise de son art. A la mourante qui affronta la mort avec courage et continua à écrire jusqu'à ses derniers instants. La Jane Austen que je préfère est celle qui se rit des opinions du monde. C'est une chance qu'elle ait eu une telle faculté de rire."

Jane Austen, passions discrètes

A portrait of the enigmatic nineteenth-century novelist and poet discusses his humble origins, rise through the London literary scene, and efforts to challenge the sexual and religious conventions of his time.

The Invisible Woman by Claire Tomalin is the acclaimed story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens Winner of the NCR Book Award, the Hawthornden Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize 'This is the story of someone who - almost - wasn't there; who vanished into thin air. Her names, dates, family and experiences very nearly disappeared from the record for good ...' Claire Tomalin's multi-award-winning story of the life of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens is a remarkable work of biography and historical revisionism that returns the neglected actress to her rightful place in history as well as providing a compelling and truthful portrait of the great Victorian novelist. For those who enjoyed Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self and Charles Dickens: A Life; The Invisible Woman is invaluable reading for lovers of Charles Dickens, and for readers of biography everywhere. 'Will come to be seen as one of the crucial women's biographies because of its vivid dramatization of the process by which women have been written out of history and have been forced to deny their own experiences' Sean French, New Statesman 'The most original biography I read this year. Starting out with scarcely the bare bones of a story, Tomalin convinces by the end that she has got as near to the truth as anyone will' Anthony Howard, Sunday Times 'A biography of high scholarship and compelling detective work' Melvyn Bragg, Independent Claire Tomalin is the award-winning author of eight highly acclaimed biographies, including: The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft; Shelley and His World; Katherine Mansfield: A Secret Life; The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens; Mrs Jordan's Profession; Jane Austen: A Life; Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self; Thomas Hardy: The Time-Torn Man and, most recently, Charles Dickens: A Life. A former literary editor of the New Statesman and the Sunday Times, she is married to the playwright and novelist Michael Frayn.

The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens

SEVERAL STRANGERS collects together the best of Claire Tomalin's literary pieces over a period of thirty years and - through three long, splendidly written 'introductions' - tells of the author's own involvement in literary journalism during that time. The result is a fascinating account of how a woman was able to survive in the male world of books and newspapers. Along the way there are brilliant portraits of Martin Amis, Andrew Neill and Julian Barnes amongst others.

Writing from Three Decades

Several Strangers

In May 2005 Penguin will publish 70 unique titles to celebrate the company's 70th birthday. The titles in the Pocket Penguins series are emblematic of the renowned breadth of quality of the Penguin list and will hark back to Penguin founder Allen Lane's vision of good books for all'. insightful, and her narrative virtuosity was rewarded in 2002 when her biography of Samuel Pepys, published by Penguin, won the Whitbread Book of the Year. In Young Bysshe Tomalin tells the story of the formative years of the poet Shelley and brings the young man and the world that influenced him so profoundly vividly to life.

Young Bysshe

Jane Austen: la vita

Jane Austen is the celebrated biography by bestselling author Claire Tomalin 'A perfect biography: detailed, witty, warm. Tomalin involves us so deeply that Austen's final illness and death come almost as a personal tragedy to the reader' Dirk Bogarde, Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year 'Truly marvellous. I cannot think that a better life of Jane Austen then Claire Tomalin's will be written for many years. Her readings of the novels are full of brilliant insights. She often seems to be standing behind Austen's desk, observing her writing' Philip Hensher, Mail on Sunday 'As near perfect a Life of Austen as we are likely to get: intelligent, feeling, suggestive. Tomalin presents Austen as remarkably clever; sensitive, but sentimental; tough, yet observant; guarded; and a woman with the devil of a genius in her' Carmen Callil, Daily Telegraph 'Tomalin has written a biography that reflects Austen's own exacting standards, a book that radiates intelligence, wit and insight' Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times 'Of all the Austen biographies, this is the best ... leaves the reader with a much deeper appreciation of the circumstances and motivation behind the creation of those six perfect novels' Harpers & Queen From the acclaimed author of Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self, Charles Dickens: A Life and The Invisible Woman, this virtuoso biography is invaluable reading for lovers of Jane Austen everywhere. Claire Tomalin is the award-winning author of eight highly acclaimed biographies, including: The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft; Shelley and His World; Katherine Mansfield: A Secret Life; The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens; Mrs Jordan's Profession; Jane Austen: A Life; Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self; Thomas Hardy: The Time-Torn Man and, most recently, Charles Dickens: A Life. A former literary editor of the New Statesman and the Sunday Times, she is married to the playwright and novelist Michael Frayn.

A fascinating journey into the life of H.G. Wells, from one of Britain's best biographers How did the first forty years of H. G. Wells' life shape the father of science fiction? From his impoverished childhood in a working-class English family, to his determination to educate himself at any cost, to the serious ill health that dominated his twenties and thirties, his complicated marriages, and love affair with socialism, the first forty years of H. G. Wells' extraordinary life would set him on a path to become one of the world's most influential writers. The sudden success of The Time Machine and The War of The Worlds transformed his life and catapulted him to international fame; he became the writer who most inspired Orwell and countless others, and predicted men walking on the moon seventy years before it happened. In this remarkable, empathetic biography, Claire Tomalin paints a fascinating portrait of a man like no other, driven by curiosity and desiring reform, a socialist and a futurist whose new and imaginative worlds continue to inspire today. 'The finest of biographers' Hilary Mantel 'A most intelligent and sympathetic biographer' Daily Telegraph 'One of the best biographers of her generation' Guardian

Claire Tomalin

Books

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