[[Category:Biography|*]]
[[Category:New Reviews|Biography]]
==Biography==<!-- Remove -->
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{{newreview
|summary=To some extent, the history of the suffragettes was also the history of the Pankhurst family. Sylvia, born in 1882, was the second daughter of Dr Richard and Emmeline Pankhurst, and one of three sisters. The family had always been heavily politicised, Richard being a founder member of the Fabian Society alongside George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells, and the children had quite an austere upbringing. When their father’s health took a sudden turn for the worse in 1898, Emmeline and eldest daughter Christabel were abroad on business and Sylvia was left in charge of her younger siblings as well as having to nurse him, taking the full force of the shock when he died in her arms. With his passing the family were left strangely detached from each other. His widow became heavily involved in public work and political agitation, an increasingly remote mother from the young children who needed her.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780950187</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Tracy Borman
|title=Matilda: Wife of the Conqueror, first Queen of England
|rating=4.5
|genre=Biography
|summary=Writing the biography of any woman who lived as long ago as the eleventh century, even someone as illustrious as a Queen, is a pretty thankless task. There will always be huge gaps in the knowledge available. For example we do not know when Matilda was born, and likewise we do not have a precise date for her marriage, although we do know when she died. No lifelike images of her are known, though evidence suggests that she was quite short of stature. In a male-dominated society, there are approximate records of when her sons were born, but not her daughters. Even more confusingly perhaps, many of the stories passed down to us throughout history are quite probably false. It is hardly surprising that this appears to be the first full-length life of her yet to appear in English.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099549131</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Michael Rosen
|title=Fantastic Mr Dahl
|rating=5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Reading this book is rather like curling up in a deep, squishy armchair with a cup of cocoa and some squashed-fly biscuits while a favourite uncle chats to you about books. He tells you interesting things about Roald Dahl's life, and then he discusses how those events may have affected his writing, secure in the knowledge that you already know and love the stories. Just as important, he pauses in his chat from time to time to ask your opinion — and it's clear he's really interested in your answer. Do you prefer the original version of ''James and the Giant Peach'', or the one which was eventually published? Can you imagine how funny it would be to see your grandfather looking in through your bedroom window, like the BFG?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141322136</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Leo McKinstry
|title=Jack Hobbs: England's Greatest Cricketer
|rating=5
|genre=Sport
|summary=Back in the early 1920s, there were only three Test cricket playing nations; England, Australia and South Africa. In the summer of 2012, both nations have been on tour; Australia recently beaten comprehensively at one day cricket and South Africa about to start a test series to determine the best Test nation in the world. Given that history is repeating itself, it seems appropriate that a new biography of Jack Hobbs, England's greatest run scorer and a man who repeatedly blunted the bowling attacks of both nations, should become available now.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224083309</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Robert K Massie
|title=Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman
|rating=4.5
|genre=Biography
|summary=Already known for major biographies of Nicholas and Alexandra, and of Peter the Great, Massie has now written an equally full and absorbing life of the late eighteenth-century reigning Empress.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0679456724</amazonuk>
}}
