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[[Category:New Reviews|Biography]]__NOTOC__<!-- Remove INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--> {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Robert A Caro1788360702|title=Charles, The Years of Lyndon JohnsonAlternative Prince: Means of Ascent|rating=5|genre=Autobiography|summary=It's only a matter of days since I finished listening to [[The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power by Robert A Caro|The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power]], the first part of Robert A Caro's definitive work on the President and despite having just spent over forty hours on the book I wanted to learn more. I was torn though - the second book in a series is not often as good as the first and it struck me that these might not be the most exciting years in Johnson's life. Was this book going to be the link which took us on to the more exciting times? Not a bit of it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00GSHD0U6</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewAn Unauthorised Biography|author=Robert A Caro|title=The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to PowerEdzard Ernst|rating=54

|summary=Lyndon Baines Johnson was the 36th President For over forty years, Prince Charles has been an ardent supporter of alternative medicine and complementary therapies. ''Charles, The Alternative Prince'' critically assesses the United StatesPrince's opinions, preceded by John F Kennedy beliefs and succeeded by Richard Nixon, with both being remembered most for aims against the background of the way they left officescientific evidence. His five-year term in office was overshadowed at the start by the Kennedy assassination There are few instances of his beliefs being vindicated and increasingly blighted by his relentless promotion of treatments which have no scientific support has done considerable damage to the debacle which was Vietnam, but there was something about Johnson which always intrigued me: how does reputation of a poor boy from Texas hill country without an exceptional (or even 'good') education become president of the United States? 'The Years man who is proud of Lyndon Johnson: The Path his refusal to Power' tells you all that you need apply evidence-based, logical reasoning to knowhis ambitions.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00GSHTJZQ</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1739805100|title=Born Loving the Enemy: Building bridges in Siberiaa time of war|author=Tamara Astafieva, Michael Darlow and Debbie SlaterAndrew March

|genre=AutobiographyBiography|summary=I tend to shy away from reviewing book titles, but this time it seems appropriate – here it''Loving the Enemy'' tells the quite extraordinary story of author Andrew March's a title that doesn't tell you grandparents, who first met when grandfather Fred Clayton went to Dresden to teach in the half early days of the storyNazi regime in the 1930s. As much as Tamara Astafieva was born in SiberiaFred, a sensitive and returned there several times, for many different reasons and with many very different outcomesthoughtful man, this is much more of a picture had some vague ideas of "building bridges" which may guard against the Soviet Union as we growing hostilities between nations unfolding in Britain think of it – Moscow, a bit of Saint Petersburg, and little elseEurope at the time. ThatFred's not a fault – and again itattempts to separate individual people from ideology weren's not half of the story. The story here is so complex, so rich with detail and incident, t universally successful but he did make friendships and itself came about in such an unusual way, connections that any summary of the book has its work cut out in defining its many qualitieslasted for a lifetime.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0704373343</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=The Pike: Gabriele D'Annunzio, Poet, Seducer and Preacher of WarWill Brooker|authortitle=Lucy Hughes-HallettThe Truth About Lisa Jewell|rating=3.5

|summary=Gabriele d’Annunzio was a strange and perhaps fortunately unique characterMeet [[:Category:Lisa Jewell|Lisa Jewell]], a kind one of 20th century Renaissance man who almost defies posterity to pigeonhole himthe most successful British authors I've never knowingly read. At various times he was a poetNow meet Will Brooker, novelist, dramatist, journalist, adventurer, self-styled demagogue and philandererone of the thousands of less successful authors I quite confidently never have read. Although he lost several friends during This book starts with the First World Wartwo meeting each other, as well as , and shows how 2021 drew the sight of one eye when his plane two closer and closer together. The meeting was shot downsome unspecified combination, it seems, he had a passion for warof her anecdote about cup cakes, seeing bloodshed as manly and death in battle as glorious self-sacrifice. He had the dodgiest words of moral compassesher latest book she was reciting, and yet was hardly her being in a ''black lace mini-dress with gold brocade'' (certainly a get-up never commonly worn at the Adonis he believed himself author events I get to be. One French courtesan who firmly rebuffed his physical advances later called him ‘a frightful gnome with red-rimmed eyes and no eyelashesattend), no hairbut pulled Brooker, greenish teetha professor of cultural studies who has swallowed Roland Barthes, bad breath and down the manners of a mountebank’rabbit-hole that is Jewell's diverse output. Had Brooker decides he been alive today'd like nothing more than to follow her through a year in the published author's life, working to make a success of the latest title, he would have probably been an instant celebrity and media personality struggling with a very short shelf-lifethe next in line. One half Jeremy ClarksonJewell, one half Russell Branddue diligence appropriately done, one might sayagrees. And this is the result.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0007213964</amazonuk>1529136024

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=John Van der KisteMartha Leigh|title=AlfredInvisible Ink: Queen Victoria's Second SonA Family Memoir|rating=45|genre=Biography|summary=Prince Alfred was the second son of Queen Victoria and Martha Leigh begins her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg Gotha. At the time of his birth he was second book talking about a childhood spent in line to the throne after his brothera slightly eccentric, the Prince of Wales and was generally known within the immediately recognisable upper middle class English family as Affie. In Her father is a Cambridge don, forever clacking away on his early teens typewriter as he joined edits the complete correspondence of the Royal Navy - at his own request philosopher Jean- and whilst his family and status was undoubtedly no disadvantage to him, he worked hard and had a genuine talent for the navyJacques Rousseau, eventually receiving his Admirallife's baton and visiting all five continents work. Her mother is a concert pianist who practises for hours every day. Neither parent is hugely interested in the course practicalities of his servicelife. He was created Duke of Edinburgh (along with various other titles) by There is love in the queen. His marriage - to Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia - was not house but also darker undercurrents that a happy union, with his wife being child does not well-liked in society and obsessed by her precedence. They had six children (one of whom was stillborn) fully understand but only one son - 'young Affie' who committed suicide at the age of twenty fourknows is there.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>178155319X</amazonuk>1800460384

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=The Trip to Echo Spring: Why Writers Drink Polly Barton|authortitle=Olivia LaingFifty Sounds|rating=4.5|genre=BiographyPolitics and Society|summary=Coming from a family Where do I start? I could start with an alcoholic backgroundwhere Barton herself starts, Olivia Laing became fascinated by with the idea of why question ''Why Japan?'' Japan has been on my radar for a while and how some of if the greatest works of twentiethworld hadn't gone into melt-century literature were written down I would have visited by those with a drink problemnow. The list soon became a long one – Dylan Thomas, Raymond Chandler, Jack London, Jean RhysI may get there later this year, to name but a fewI am not hopeful. And like Barton, instantly came I don't know the answer to mind. In the spring question ''why Japan?'' She explains her feelings in respect of 2011 she crossed the Atlantic to take a trip across question in the USAfirst essay, from New York City and New Orleans to Chicago and Seattle by hired car and train, in which is on the course of sound ''giro' '' – which she took a close look at the link between creativity and alcohol which inspired the work of six authors, namely F. Scott Fitzgeralddescribes as being, Ernest Hemingwayamong other things, Tennessee Williams, John Berryman, John Cheever, and Raymond Carver. Taking her title from a character in Williams’s play ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ who says he is taking a trip to echo spring, an euphemism for the liquor cabinet, she travels sound of ''every party where you have to the places which were pivotal in their often overlapping lives and workintroduce yourself''.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847677940</amazonuk>1913097501

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=Hanns and Rudolf: The German Jew and the Hunt for the Kommandant of AuschwitzFrederic Gros|authortitle=Thomas HardingA Philosophy of Walking

|genre=BiographyPolitics and Society|summary=This dual biography concerns, as I confess I picked this one up from the title makes clear, two menlibrary in my pre-lockdown forage of random stuff. One was from Now I have to go out an inherently German, rich Jewish family – they had a powerboat buy my own copy so he could waterski on the lake at their country cottage – who fled the rise of that I can turn down the Nazis early in the 1930s, pages I have marked and got away moderately lightly, only losing properties and a large and successful medical careerreturn to its varying wisdom when I need to. The other was from an inherently German family, who signed up for First World War service before his age, but only really wanted to be a farmer and family man, yet who ended up running probably history's worst slaughterhouse Some books draw you in slowly. Both This one had a connection and a shared destiny that was largely unknown before this book was researchedme in the first two pages, therewherein Gros explains why 's 'walking is not a chance that both of them had the blood of one man and only one man directly on their hands from WWII service, and both of them – again, as the title makes clear – are given the dignity of the familiar, first name throughout this incredible booksport''.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0434022365</amazonuk>1781688370

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=Penelope Fitzgerald: A LifeSharon Blackie|authortitle=Hermione LeeIf Women Rose Rooted

|genre=Biography|summary=Penelope Fitzgerald came from an earnest and renowned academic family, the Knoxes, which included several prominent clerics; her grandfather was the Bishop of Manchester. A considerable biographer herself, she wrote I normally say that you can tell how much a book on the Knox brothers, these included two Oxford pastors (one means to me by how many pages have corners turned down. Perhaps an even greater measure of whom, Ronald Knox, converted to Catholicism, was famous as a biblical translator and whilst chaplain at Trinity College became a mentor impact is setting out to the future prime minister, Harold Macmillan), a top Bletchley cryptographic analyst and Penelope's buy my own eminent father, 'Evoecopy before I' who was editor of Punch. Fitzgerald wrote prolifically from childhood and fulfilled some of these high expectations by gaining a brilliant First at Somerville. Graduating in 1938, she was already known for her membership of ve finished reading the smart set, for her student journalism and a reticent, indeed peremptory manner. Women could not actually graduate at Oxford until a statute was passed in 1920. Hence she was amongst Oxfordone I's early women graduatesve borrowed. Her striking appearance within the smart set earned her the nickname of the I want to avoid clichés like 'powerful' 'inspiring''blonde bombshelllife-changing'– although it is definitely the first two and only time will tell about the third – but clichés exist for a reason and I'm not sure I can succinctly put it any better.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0701184957</amazonuk>1912836017

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John Freeman0241446732|title=How to Read a NovelistOur House is on Fire: Conversations with Writers|rating=4.5|genre=Biography|summary=As a book reviewer there are certain people whom I hold in high regard and one of these is John Freeman. Not yet forty he has an enviable record as an editor to some of the big names in literature and it seems that every book Scenes of note for a decade Family and a half has been greeted by his review. Don't be misled by the title ''How to Read a Novelist'' - this isn't a guide to literary criticism, but a collection of Freeman's interviews with eminent authors. There are fifty six Planet in total, ranging from literary giants such as Toni Morrison, Ian McEwan, Gunter Grass and Kazuo Ishiguro through to popular crime fiction writers such as Donna Leon.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472109376</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|title=Inside The Centre: The Life of J Robert OppenheimerCrisis|author=Ray MonkMalena Ernman, Greta Thunberg, Beata Thunberg and Svante Thunberg

|genre=BiographyPolitics and Society|summary=Thinking back to The Ernman / Thunberg family seemed perfectly normal. Malena Ernman was an opera singer and Svante Thunberg took on most of the early 1960sparenting of their two daughters. Then eleven-year-old Greta stopped eating and talking and her sister, Bertrand RussellBeata, the subject of another prize winning biography by Ray Monkthen nine years old, struggled with what was frequently seen on black and white television declaring his concerns over Nuclear Weaponshappening. He stated In such circumstances, it'Neither a man nor a crowd nor s natural to seek a nation can be trusted solution close to act humanely or home, but eventually, it became clear to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.family that they were ' For nearly seventy years, mankind has wondered in the words of Sting, 'How can I save my boy from Oppenheimerburned-out people on a burned-out planet's deadly toy?' As concerns about nuclear proliferation in relation . If they were to Iraq, Pakistan and North Korea escalate it is salutary to return find a way to a thorough biography of the man, known as the father of the bomb, that felt a deep and urgent live happily again their solution would need to be at the centre and to belong, J Robert Oppenheimerradical.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099433532</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=0648684806|title=Magic WordsClara Colby: The Extraordinary Life of Alan MooreInternational Suffragist|author=Lance ParkinJohn Holliday|rating=54

|summary=I donThe path of Clara Dorothy Bewick't think that I ever saw [[:Category:Alan Moore|Alan Moore]] s life was probably determined when I lived in Northamptonher family emigrated to the USA. At the time she was just three-years-old but because of some childhood ailment, and I donshe wasn't think I coincided allowed to sail with the publication her parents and three brothers. Instead, she remained with her grandparents, who doted on her and saw that she received a good education, both in and out of ''Maxwell school. She was the Magic Cat'' only child in the local newspaperhousehold and her childhood was glorious. So I missed out on By contrast, her family had become pioneer farmers in the memorable frame mid-west of someone else who is six foot twothe United States and life was hard, albeit a generation older as Clara was to find out when she and looking so hirsute he would seem her grandparents eventually went to be afraid of scissorsjoin the family. But I certainly Clara would not have been alone only know her mother for a few months: she was married for fifteen years, had ten pregnancies, seven surviving children and died in childbirth not recognising him for what he islong after Clara arrived. How many Northampton housewives flicked past As the daily panels of ''Maxwell'' in complete ignorance of who Alan Moore actually is? – With no idea that the years he spent drawing that cartoon for £10 eldest girl, a heavy burden would fall on Clara and Wisconsin was a week – later to be £12rude awakening.50 – were just him gearing up to be the biggest man of letters in the comic book world?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781310777</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1789017977|title=Alan Turing (Real Lives)Ronnie and Hilda's Romance: Towards a New Life after World War II|author=Jim EldridgeWendy Williams

|genre=Children's Non-FictionHistory|summary=Alan Turing Ronnie Williams was one the son of BritainThomas Henry Williams (known as Harry) and Ethel Wall. There's some doubt as to whether or not they were ever married or even Harry's greatest thinkers of the last century. He did pioneering work on computing birthdate: he claimed to have been born in 1863, but he was already many years older than Ethel and artificial intelligencehe might well have shaved a few years off his age. He was also For a hero of World War IIwhile, working the family was quite well-to-do but disaster struck in the famous code1929 Depression and five-breaking community at Bletchley Park, cracking German naval codes used year-old Ronnie had to adjust to a very different lifestyle. One thing he did inherit from his father was his need to lethal effect organising Ube well-boat attacksturned-out and this would stay with him throughout his life. Turing was He joined the man who beat the Enigma machinearmy at eighteen in 1942. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472900103</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=Cher: Strong EnoughPatti Smith|authortitle=Josiah HowardYear of the Monkey|rating=4.5

|summary=Having looked at On the title and sub-titlecoast of Santa Cruz, Patti Smith enters the latter being no more than lunar year of the twomonkey -word title of one of her latter-day hitspacked with mischief, sorrow, I assumed this was going to be and unexpected moments. In a fairly comprehensive biography of the American singer. The sub-titlestranger's words, ''Strong Enough''Anything is possible: after all, taken from one of her latter-day hit singles, reveals nothing. Not until I had almost finished it, a little puzzled at it not being quite what I had expected, did I finally look at 's the blurb on year of the back – at which point all became clearmonkey''. This was not As Smith wanders the full story coast of Santa Cruz in solitude, she reflects on a showbiz career which has lasted close year that brings huge shifts in her life - loss and ageing are faced head-on half a century, but for as it the most part an extraordinarily detailed account of her 1975 TV variety showshifting political waters in America.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0859654842</amazonuk>1526614758

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1912242052|title=Empress Dowager CixiO Joy for me!|author=Jung ChangKeir Davidson|rating=53|genre=BiographyArt|summary=It’s easy ''Oh Joy for me!'' gives Coleridge credit for being ''the first person to see why Jung Chang selected Cixi as walk the focal point mountains alone, not because he had to for her study of China’s tumultuous modern history. Cixi is work, as a truly fascinating womanminer, one of few human beings whose existence can be honestly said quarryman, shepherd or pack-horse driver, but because he wanted to have shaped the course of historyfor pleasure and adventure. Cixi’s biography is not only a fascinating read due to her own political machinations His rapturous encounters with their natural beauty, and its literary consequences, but also because changed our view of the immense transformations that occurred in China during her lifetimeworld''. Jung Chang offers }}{{Frontpage|isbn=Graff_Find|title=Find Another Place|author=Ben Graff|rating=3.5|genre=Autobiography|summary=When Ben Graff's grandfather Martin handed him a detailed exploration plastic folder of the period handwritten notes from Cixi’s entrance to court in 1852 to her death in 1908his journal, during which time he didn't take much notice of it. At the ancient dynastic customs age of China gave way to 24, Graff didn't realise the advent gravity of the industrial agepages he was holding.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224087436</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1789016304|title=BertieWar and Love: A Life family's testament of Edward VIIanguish, endurance and devotion in occupied Amsterdam|author=Jane RidleyMelanie Martin

|summary=Several of the main facts Melanie Martin read about King Edward VII (1841-1910) are reasonably well-known. Considered oversexed what happened to Dutch Jews in occupied Amsterdam during World War II and was entranced by his parentswhat she discovered, Queen Victoria particularly in ''The Diary of Ann Frank'' but then realised that her own family's stories were equally fascinating. A hundred and seven thousand Jews were deported from the Prince Consortcity during the war years, he was blamed by but only five thousand survived and Martin could not understand how this could be allowed to happen in a country with liberal values who were resistant to German occupation. Most people believed that the former for breaking occupation could never happen: even those who thought that the latter's heart and causing his early death with Germans might reach the news city were convinced that they would soon be pushed back, that he (Edward) had enjoyed himself with a lady of the night. He was notoriously unfaithful Amsterdammers would never allow what happened to his charming but prematurely deaf and lame wife Alexandraescalate in the way that it did, hated reading books and learning but initial protests melted away as the organisers became more circumspect. It's an atrocity on a first-class unofficial ambassador to courts and countries abroad, and despite low expectations vast scale but made up of tens of others and poor health he made an excellent King for the last nine years thousands of his lifeindividual tragedies.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099575442</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Anthony Summers1786893452|title=Not In Your Lifetime: The Assassination of JFKUngrateful Refugee|author=Dina Nayeri

|genre=True CrimeBiography|summary=Originally published as ''The Kennedy Conspiracy''Here in the West, Anthony Summers has massively revised the textwe see news reports about immigrants on a regular basis – some media welcoming them, updated it with the latest evidence and it's been republished as ''Not in Your Lifetime: The Assassination some scaremongering about them. But all of JFK'' which refers to the statement made those stories are written by Chief Justice Earl Warren who was asked if journalists – almost always western, and almost always, no matter how deep the truth about what happened would come investigative journalism they carry out. He said that it would, but added outsiders to the world and the rider situations that ''it might not be refugees find themselves in your lifetime''. Fifty years on most of the people directly involved are now dead, but the truth has not officially emerged. In fact, itIt's difficult to avoid the thought rare that we find out the US government would prefer that it did not see journeys from the light of day. Further documents are due refugees themselves – and this is a rare opportunity to be released do that, in 2017, butthis intelligent, powerful and moving work by Dina Nayeri -someone who was born in the meantime Anthony Summer has examined what is availablemiddle of a revolution in Iran, investigated on his own behalf and given us this comprehensive bookfleeing to America as a ten-year-old.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755365429</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=0857058320|title=The Assassination of the Archduke: Sarajevo 1914 and the Murder That Changed Lord Of All the WorldDead|author=Greg King Javier Cercas and Sue WoolmansAnne McLean (translator)|rating=54

|summary=Possibly no assassination in history can have had such momentous consequences for ''Lord Of All the history of Dead'' is a journey to uncover the world as that of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria author's lost ancestor's life and death. Cercas is searching for the meaning behind his wife Sophie great uncle's death in Sarajevothe Spanish Civil War. Manuel Mena, Cercas' great uncle, is the capital of Bosnia, in June 1914figure who looms large over the book. He died relatively young whilst fighting for Francisco Franco's forces. Cercas ruminates on why his uncle fought for this dictator. It was their killing which led directly to The question at the outbreak centre of this book is whether it is possible for his great uncle to be a hero whilst having fought for the First World War, just six weeks laterwrong side.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0230759572</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1788037812|title=Red LoveThe Fraternity of the Estranged: The Story of an East German FamilyFight for Homosexual Rights in England, 1891-1908|author=Maxim LeoBrian Anderson

|summary=Chances are there have been major disagreements and splits Originally passed in your family. One black sheep might have supported 1885, the wrong football teamlaw that had made homosexual relations a crime remained in place for 82 years. Some of you will be strictly ''Strictly''But during this time, the rest ''X Factor''restrictions on same-sex relationships did not go unchallenged. But probably nothing compares to what went Between 1891 and 1908, three books on in the Leo household over decades in Eastern Berlinnature of homosexuality appeared. One of our author's grandfathers, Gerhard, was too Jewish They were written by two homosexual men: Edward Carpenter and bourgeois to survive life in GermanyJohn Addington Symonds, fled to France, and came back a Communist having fought against Nazismas well as the heterosexual Havelock Ellis. His counterpart Werner ended Exploring the war with some semblance margins of PTSDsociety and studying homosexuality was common on the European Continent, and more or less landed but barely talked about in Communist Berlin due the UK, so the publications of these men were hugely significant – contributing to facts the scientific understanding of administrationhomosexuality, yet became a fully-fledged Party activist. Author's mother Anne worked as a journalist on and beginning the Communist mouthpiece newspaperstruggle for recognition and equality, even if she managed leading to doubt things she was forced to write during the Prague Spring and more. Her husband Wolf – Werner's son – in a similar industry was involved in sort-milestone legalisation of Photoshopping for propaganda, and often sabotaged his own output. He was violent, awkward, but very antisame-establishment. And if you can't see how having a non-Communist in such a family sex relationships in the heightened times of Cold War Berlin would be, you certainly will after reading this gripping collective biography1967.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908968516</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Barbara A PerryBuckland_Zoo|title=Rose KennedyThe Man Who Ate the Zoo: The Life and Times Frank Buckland, forgotten hero of a Political Matriarchnatural history|author=Richard Girling

|summary=It's about fifty years since As a conservationist in Victorian England before the assassination of President John F Kennedy and it term existed, Frank Buckland was he (and particularly his death) who brought the Kennedy family to the attention of very much a new generation. An earlier generation had been split about the virtues (or otherwise) man ahead of his fathertime. Surgeon, Joe Kennedynaturalist, multi millionaire and United States Ambassador to Great Britain. But behind both of these men was mother veterinarian and wifeeccentric sums him up perfectly, Rose Kennedy and Barbara A Perry has produced any biographer is immediately presented with a superb biography using letters, diaries and other archived material recently made availablecolourful tale to tell.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0393068951</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Williams_Captain|title=Eminent ElizabethansCaptain Ronald Campbell of Bombala Station, Cambalong: His Military Life and Times|author=Piers BrendonIvor George Williams

|summary=''Eminent Elizabethans'' is In March 1829 Ann Parker married Captain J A Edwards of the 17th Regiment of Foot. He was in effect a descendant command of the author’s ''Eminent Edwardians''troops and convicts on board a ship sailing from Plymouth to Sydney, Australia: his wife and young son accompanied him. The latterHe was not destined to live a long life, a volume dying suddenly at the age of short biographies of four British iconic figures of the early twentieth century34 at Bangalore, was in turn inspired by Lytton Strachey’s barbed 'Eminent Victoriansleaving his widow to raise their two young sons. Edwards', published death left his widow in 1918a difficult position: not only did she have their farm to manage, a debunking of four Victorian heroes whom but she was also responsible for the convicts who worked the iconoclast Strachey wished to demonstrate had feet of clayland. Two years later she would marry Captain Ronald Campbell.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099532638</amazonuk>

 {{newreview|title=Sisters of the East End|author=Helen Batten|rating=3.5|genre=Historical Fiction|summary=Katie Crisp had never intended to become a nun. Raised by non-religious parents, her family frowned upon organised religion and when Katie started secretly going to church, they strongly disapproved. When Katie ran to the aid of a stroke victim, she had a vision that changed her life. She saw herself dressed as a nun with a large silver cross hanging from her neck. She decided to follow her calling and join the community of St John the Divine, a group of Anglican nuns dedicated to nursing and midwifery. She thus shed her old identity and became known as Sister Catherine Mary.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091951771</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jerry OppenheimerPeacock_mountain|title=Crazy Rich: Power, Scandal and Tragedy Inside the Johnson & Johnson Dynasty|rating=3|genre=Biography|summary=Back in 1885 three brothers were inspired by a speech by Joseph Lister, the pioneer of antiseptic surgery, to create a range of surgical dressings - such things were previously unheard of - and this was the beginning of Johnson & Johnson, providers of Band-Aids and baby powder. It also brought phenomenal wealth to the founders and a variety of trusts continued this down the years. Into The first president of the company was Robert Wood Johnson. NFL fans will be aware of his great grandson, Robert Wood Johnson IV (known as 'Woody')Mountain, owner of the New York Jets. In between the two - and afterwards - there are a string of tragedies and scandals which put you in mind of the Kennedy dynasty.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0312662114</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|title=America's Mistress: The A Life and Times of Eartha Kitt|author=John L Williams|rating=4|genre=Entertainment|summary=Two quotes on the back of the dust jacket testify to the power and public perception of Eartha Kitt during her lifetime. Orson Welles once called her ‘the most exciting woman in the world’, while to the CIA she was ‘a sadistic nymphomaniac’.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857385755</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|title=Inferno Decoded: The essential companion to the myths, mysteries and locations of Dan Brown's Inferno|author=Michael Haag|rating=4|genre=Entertainment|summary=Here be spoilers. Not so much in my review, but certainly in its subject, a very quickly produced companion guide to the latest [[:Category:Dan Brown|Dan Brown]] blockbuster. It's not so much a page-by-page guide, but certainly serves as an educational and intelligent look at the background to the biggest-selling book of 2013.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781251800</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|title=Serving Victoria: Life in the Royal HouseholdNan Shepherd|author=Kate HubbardCharlotte Peacock

|summary=Biographies old Mostly we choose what books to read because there is so little time and new of Queen Victoriaso many books… I can understand the approach, but I also think we sell ourselves short by it, her husband and her children are plentiful enoughwe sell the myriad lesser-known authors short as well. The vast majority of them are based to some extent on the diariesSo while, like most other people I have my favourite genres, memoirs and biographies of some of the most important figures who served herfavoured authors, and Kate Hubbard has put these as well as supplementary archive papers to good use in presenting a thoroughly engrossing account of while, like most other people I read the royal household throughout the Queen’s lengthy reign. reviews and follow up on what appeals, I might almost say ‘lively’, though that could be an exaggeration. The court of Victoria may also have been homely after a fashion, but for the most part it was hardly livelythird-string to my reading bow: randomness.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099532239</amazonuk>

{{newreview|author=Robert Sellers|title=What Fresh Lunacy is This?: The Authorised Biography of Oliver Reed|rating=5|genre=Biography|summary=For rather more of his career than he, his family and closest friends might have liked, the name Oliver Reed was a byword for booze, brawls and all types of laddish behaviour. As Sellers’ very full Move on to [[Newest Business and remarkably objective biography reveals, it was a funny yet sad life all at once. For although he repeatedly played up to the image of the lovable rogue which he had created, underneath the bad boy of popular legend he was at heart a professional actor who could always deliver a first-rate performance on the film set when required.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>147210112X</amazonuk>}}Finance Reviews]]