Samuel Pepys achieved fame as a naval administrator, a friend and colleague of the powerful and learned, a figure of substance. But for nearly ten years he kept a private diary in which he recorded, with unparalleled openness and sensitivity to the turbulent world around him, exactly what it was like to be a young man in Restoration London.

Thomas Hardy is one of the sacred figures in English writing, a great poet and a novelist with a world reputation. His life was also extraordinary: from the poverty of rural Dorset he went on to become the Grand Old Man of English life and letters, his last resting place in Westminster Abbey. This seminal biography, by our leading biographer, covers Hardy's illegitimate birth, his rural ...

John Keats (1795-1821) honed a raw talent into a brilliant poetic maturity. By the end of his brief career, he had written poems of such beauty, imagination and generosity of spirit, that he had - unwittingly - fulfilled his wish that he should 'be among the English poets after my death'. This work presents a selection of Keats' poetry.

From the author's study of the Austen family papers, this title paints a picture of the Austen clan and their neighbours, and concludes that the facts of Jane Austen's life were even more extravagant and romantic than her fiction.

Thomas Hardy is one of the sacred figures in English writing, a novelist with a world reputation, but above all a great poet. This work is a selection of Hardy's love poems.

John Milton was a writer of almost every type of verse, from the classical to the religious and from the lyrical to the epic. This book is a selection of his poems, edited and introduced by Claire Tomalin.

Presents the story of the life of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens. This book provides a truthful portrait of the great Victorian novelist.

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. This biography describes this courageous, greatly gifted, haunted and haunting writer.

Acclaimed as the greatest comic actress of her day, Dora Jordan played a quite different role off-stage as lover to the future king, William IV, third son of George III. This story shows how Dora moved between stage and home, and how she battled for her family and her career.

Collects together the best of the authors literary pieces over a period of thirty years and tells of her own involvement in literary journalism during that time. This title presents an account of how a woman was able to survive in the male world of books and newspapers.

Thomas Hardy is one of the sacred figures in English writing, a great poet and a novelist with a world reputation. His life was also extraordinary. This seminal biography covers Hardy's illegitimate birth, his rural upbringing, his escape to London in the 1860s, his marriages, his status as a bestselling novelist, and his achievements as a poet.

John Milton wrote some of the greatest poetry in the English language, filled with drama and energy. This selection celebrates some of the best of his verse in all its richness and variety, setting Milton's work against the arc of his turbulent life. It contains schoolboy writings and the verses of the university wit, sonnets on spring, and love.

This selection of stories by Katherine Mansfield has been chosen by Claire Tomalin and emphasize the stronger, feminist side of her writing rather than the popular, more sentimental view. The 21 stories are presented in chronological order and include Prelude , The Garden Party and At the Bay .

Witty, courageous and unconventional, Mary Wollstonecraft was one of the most controversial figures. 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. This biography is the Winner of the Whitbread First Book Prize.

Thomas Hardy is one of the sacred figures in English writing, a great poet and a novelist with a world reputation. His life was extraordinary. This biography covers Hardy's illegitimate birth, his rural upbringing, his escape to London in the 1860s, his marriages, his status as a bestselling novelist, and his supreme achievements as a poet.

From the study of the Austen family papers, this title paints a tragi-comic picture of the Austen clan and their neighbours, reaching the conclusion that the facts of Jane Austen's life were even more extravagant and romantic than her fiction.