US review for the Alan Sillitoe biography

Quoted below is edited text of a review for The Life of a Long Distance Writer from American magazine World Literature Today. Richard Bradford's biography of Philip Larkin First Boredom, Then Fear is currently being featured in Waterstones recent promotion.



"Richard Bradford's authorized biography, The Life of a Long-Distance
Writer, draws extensively on Sillitoe's voluminous private papers as
well as extensive interviews to present a remarkable narrative of
Sillitoe's life and to assert a compelling argument for his central
importance in English literature of the last fifty years."

"In contrast to Roger Lewis's splenetic, vituperative biography of
Anthony Burgess (2004), which cataloged its subject's flaws while
ignoring the most "writerly" aspects of Burgess's phenomenally prolific
life, Bradford's biography deftly makes Sillitoe's daily writing routine
central, even in his introduction. His claim that Sillitoe's "fiction .
. . is extraordinarily good: quixotic, magnetic, and unimprovable" and
"that Sillitoe can lay claim to being the most accomplished practitioner
of [the] genre of the last fifty years" may quite intentionally provoke
much-needed debate about, and reappraisal of, Sillitoe's literary
standing. Bradford will get no dissent about that from me, and this
thoughtful, eminently readable biography makes his case formidably."

The Darker Sex featuring Emily Bronte and many more

Our new book, The Darker Sex is a treasure trove of Victorian Women Writing, centred on the Gothic genre. It features Emily Bronte, E Nesbit and many more - we are looking forward to seeing a review at some point from a great new website/blog we found called Bronte Blog , well worth checking out if this genre is your scene

Praise from A Good Read

Here are some quotes from A Good Read which featured
Empire of the Sikhs last week.

Indarjit Singh: 'This was wonderful period in Indian history, almost unknown in this country . . . The book is written in a very chatty, easy-to-read style, but it becomes more poignant when the authors talk about how the empire disintegrated after the Ranjit Singh's death . . . as the strength of his reign was his tolerance.'

Kate Mosse (presenter): 'I was really grateful to have read the book. I knew very little about Sikhism. I was very interested to learn about its history and about Ranjit Singh being a contemporary of Napoleon's, with these two completely different ways of working – in India and Europe . . . I think there is no doubt that the two authors are scholars, and the research here is fantastic . . . I loved the early chapters' description of the birth of Sikhism and the beauty of its texts, and it’s made me want to know more . . . I also loved the fact that this book is written in Indian English - it hasn't been Americanized, and there is that sense of richness about it.'

Empire of the Sikhs - on Radio 4 and at the Library of Congress

Empire of the Sikhs was not only featured on Radio 4's A Good Read, it has also been launched in the US at no less a venue than the Library of Congress - a suitable counterpart to the V & A in London (see previous blogs). A couple of pics here of the evening, including authors Patwant Singh and Jyoti M. Rai signing copies and Mr Singh giving a talk

Recommended Book Site

We were recently contacted by Robert Burdock who runs a really interesting website here. He was enquiring about Endo's Silence - here's his preview - we're looking forward to seeing the review....

Prinny and His Pals - Daily Express Review

Our thanks to that unique writer Duncan Fallowell for his review of Prinny and His Pals in the
Daily Express

Prinny and His Pals - Book of the Month

Our new book on George IV, Prinny and His Pals has been selected as Book of the Month by our friends at Majesty magazine