PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Nicholas Shakespeare was born in 1957. The son of a diplomat, much of his youth was spent in the Far East and South America. His books have been translated into twenty-two languages. They include The Vision of Elena Silves (winner of the Somerset Maugham Award), Snowleg, The Dancer Upstairs, Inheritance, Priscilla and Six Minutes in May. He has been longlisted for the Booker Prize twice and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Shakespeare has the rare ability to reinvigorate subjects that had seemed exhausted. If, like me, you thought you knew all there was to be known about Ian Fleming, prepare for a surprise: the creator of James Bond turns out to be more interesting and less unpleasant than we had thought him to be. Shakespeare’s life of Bruce Chatwin showed him to be a very fine biographer, as well as a much-admired novelist; his life of Ian Fleming is equally compelling. Though a long book, it is written with such brio that the pace never slackens – much like a Bond, one might say. -- Adam Sisman A magnificent work of empathy and detection -- Colin Thubron * Sunday Times, on Bruce Chatwin * This is a marvellous book about Ian Fleming, but it's also one of the most engaging portraits of a particular period of British history that I have read in a long time -- Antonia Fraser Quite simply, one of the most beautifully written, painstakingly researched and cleverly constructed biographies of this decade * Literary Review, on Bruce Chatwin * A fascinating account of the man behind the myth -- Ian Thomson * Guardian on Bruce Chatwin *
