Christopher Lloyd was already a legend in his lifetime, and this intimate biography adds vivid colour as provocative and challenging as the eye-widening combinations in Christopher's borders. This portrait is so alive, so evocative of his vitality, 'naughtiness' and untold generosity, that it hurts to be reminded of what we have lost.

[Christopher Lloyd's] reputation as the finest plantsman of the 20th century is underscored in Anderton's affectionate biography of a shy, irascible man who applied a modern sensibility and a personal genius to gardening

An unputdownable autobiography

A rollicking and compulsive read. Anderton's writing is lithe and perky, especially when it comes to the Lloyd family foibles and dysfunctions. His words dance around these with feline agility.

Stephen Anderton is a clever and witty writer and well known for his lively take on gardening

Stephen Anderton was invited by Christopher Lloyd to be his biographer, having been his friend for 20 years and being himself a distinguished gardening writer

It may sound odd to say that a garden can move to tears, like music, like literature, but Great Dixter had that power

Incisive... he is spot-on about Christopher: a maelstrom of talent and inhibition, conservatism and radicalism, rudeness and affection

I thoroughly enjoyed Stephen Anderton's biography... Few figures loomed larger in the world of 20th-Century gardening than 'Christo', and Mr Anderton has done an admirable job in discovering and revealing what made him the remarkable man he was... Anderton's style is so effortlessly easy and his subject such a fascination that I read the biography at one sitting

A fascinating insight into the life of one of our greatest gardeners who was as colourful as his garden

It is a gripper and quite an eye opener

This book is extremely well-written, and the narrative fair bowls along.'; 'I would recommend this book to the many people who love both Dixter and Christopher's books, which together form this exceptional man's legacy.

Stephen Anderton celebrates a hero of his own, and one of England's finest gardeners

Excellent

A touching biography of the great gardener "Christo" - his life, eccentricities and beloved garden

A charismatic, dazzling piece of work that has the feel of a future classic. Shadows at Noon is remarkably rich and full of life, packed with insights conveyed through beautifully moving storytelling. A unique and vital book, it is at once incredibly informative, profound and very readable - a genuine page-turner

Both erudite and intimate, Chatterji narrates how South Asia in the twentieth century produced democracy and authoritarianism, inclusion and violent exclusion, all at the same time, explaining our present as well as giving us an account of the past

A tour de force of contemporary history of the Indian subcontinent. Its masterly analysis of the big picture - nationalisms, citizenship and the State - sets the stage for its innovative focus on ordinary people and their lives. A brilliant, wonderful read

This book's promise to deliver a 'people-centred history' of South Asia over the twentieth century is no small task. Chatterji's epic work meanders across this huge terrain, taking a series of imaginative angles such as the histories of the household, music, film and food, as well as many others. Combining scholarly rigour with a spontaneous tone and autobiographical style, this is a courageous and captivating work

A historical epic in prose - masterly, original, provocative - and, yes, compellingly readable

[A] bold, innovative and personal work rallies against standard narratives of ‘inherent’ differences between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and reveals the many things its people have in common

This extraordinary book exposes how various sides in the Petain debate have manipulated the historical record in a desperate attempt to make the past palatable.

Julian Jackson’s France on Trial grapples with the life and (mis)deeds of Philippe Pétain—the French general who led the Vichy regime during the Second World War—and the country’s dark feelings of hatred and guilt after the war.

Superb, totally fascinating and compelling, Katja Hoyer's first full history of East Germany's rise and fall is a work of revelatory original research - and a gripping read with a brilliant cast of characters. Essential reading

A beyond-brilliant new picture of the rise and fall of the East German state. Katja Hoyer gives us not only pin-sharp historical analysis, but an up-close and personal view of both key characters and ordinary citizens whose lives charted some of the darkest hours of the Cold War. If you thought you knew the history of East Germany, think again. An utterly riveting read

A fantastic, sparkling book, filled with insights not only about East Germany but about the Cold War, Europe and the forging of the 20th and 21st centuries

The joke has it that the duty of the last East German to escape from the country was to turn off the lights. In Beyond the Wall Katja Hoyer turns the light back on and gives us the best kind of history: frank, vivid, nuanced and filled with interesting people

A refreshing and eye-opening book on a country that is routinely reduced to cartoonish cliché. Beyond the Wall is a tribute to the ordinary East Germans who built themselves a society that - for a time - worked for them, a society carved out of a state founded in the horrors of Nazism and Stalinism

A colourful and often revelatory re-appraisal of one of modern history's most fascinating political curiosities. Katja Hoyer skilfully weaves diverse political and private lives together, from the communist elite to ordinary East Germans

Katja Hoyer is becoming the authoritative voice in the English speaking world for all things German. Thanks to her, German history has the prominence in the Anglosphere it certainly deserves.

Katja Hoyer brilliantly shows that the history of East Germany was a significant chapter of German history, not just a footnote to it or a copy of the Soviet Union. To understand Germany today we have to grapple with the history and legacy of its all but dismissed East

Katja Hoyer's return to discover what happened to her homeland - the old East Germany - is an excellent counterpoint to Stasiland by Anna Funder