Author:Sarah Bradford
*20th anniversary edition featuring a new afterword*
Glamour. Duty. Tragedy: The Woman Behind the Princess.
Sarah Bradford delivers an authoritative and explosive study of the greatest icon of the twentieth century: Diana.
After more than a decade interviewing those closest to the Princess and her select circle, Sarah Bradford exposes the real Diana: the blighted childhood, the old-fashioned courtship which saw her capture the Prince of Wales, the damage caused by the spectre of Camilla Parker Bowles, through to the collapse of the royal marriage and Diana's final and complicated year as single woman.
Diana paints an honest portrait of a woman riddled with contradictions and whose vulnerability and unique empathy with the suffering made her one of the most extraordinary figures of the modern age.
The definitive biography. In this authoritative account, Bradford paints a revealing, accurate portrait of a complex woman flawed and adored in equal measure.
—— Daily TelegraphReaders will find themselves gripped by this gloriously gossipy account. Bradford is even-handed and unafraid.
—— Jeremy Lewis , Sunday Times Books of the YearDiana is Sarah Bradford's excellent and authoritative new biography of the most extraordinary woman in recent history ... Sarah Bradford has set a high standard for the others to follow
—— Virginia Blackburn , Daily ExpressYou feel from this book that you know the woman as she probably was, and that is because, perhaps for the first time, a grown-up has written about her
—— Adam Nicolson , Evening StandardBradford has a real grasp of history and the ability to make it spark into new life
—— Sunday TelegraphA woman of intelligence and taste ... Bradford is an excellent writer who has produced a balanced and well-researched biography.
—— Philip Hensher , SpectatorA very sad story. Bradford tells it eloquently, but it's her admirable detachment that leaves one pitying all, not one, of the characters involved.
—— Antonia Fraser , Guardian Books of the YearTravis is a joyful cultural celebrant offering tantalizing nuggets of social history.
—— Justine Crow , Families South EastQuirky, lively history, full of unexpected detail.
—— Simple ThingsAmiable new history of the public park… He turns up lots of interesting, joyful stuff along the way. He’s particularly good on our forebears’ taste for the ersatz… A Walk in the Park is an enjoyable stroll.
—— Rachel Cooke , GuardianFast-paced and richly peopled… Ebullient and enamored of his heroes is Elborough.
—— Gillian Darley , Literary ReviewHighly enjoyable.
—— Sunday TimesElborough's quietly effervescent style manages to transform the reader from being someone with a passing interest in whatever topic he happens to be writing about into a fully-fledged Routemaster/LP/London loon.
—— Travel GuideElborough writes in an aptly meandering style with an appetite for the eccentric marginalia of history
—— Ben Felsenburg , Mail on Sunday[It is] quirky and original.
—— Times Literary Supplement[A Walk in the Park is] wittily written and wide-ranging.
—— French Property News, Book of the YearIn The Butchering Art, Lindsey Fitzharris becomes our Dante, leading us through the macabre hell of nineteenth-century surgery to tell the story of Joseph Lister, the man who solved one of medicine's most daunting - and lethal - puzzles. With gusto, Dr. Fitzharris takes us into the operating 'theaters' of yore, as Lister awakens to the true nature of the killer that turned so many surgeries into little more than slow-moving executions. Warning: She spares no detail!
—— Erik Larson , bestselling author of Dead Wake and The Devil in the White CityWith an eye for historical detail and an ear for vivid prose, Lindsey Fitzharris tells a spectacular story about one of the most important moments in the history of medicine-the rise of sterile surgery. The Butchering Art is a spectacular book-deliciously gruesome and utterly gripping. You will race through it, wincing as you go, but never wanting to stop
—— Ed Yong, author of I Contain MultitudesAn absolutely fascinating and grisly read that vividly brings to life the world of the Victorian operating theatre
—— Catharine Arnold , author of Bedlam and NecropolisFitzharris slices into medical history with this excellent biography of Joseph Lister, the 19th-century "hero of surgery." ... She infuses her thoughtful and finely crafted examination of this revolution with the same sense of wonder and compassion Lister himself brought to his patients, colleagues, and students
—— Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)The Butchering Art is medical history at its most visceral and vivid. It will make you forever grateful to Joseph Lister, the man who saved us from the horror of pre-antiseptic surgery, and to Lindsey Fitzharris, who brings to life the harrowing and deadly sights, smells, and sounds of a nineteenth-century hospital
—— Caitlin Doughty , bestselling author of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and From Here to EternityFascinating and shocking ... [Fitzharris] offers an important reminder that, while many regard science as the key to progress, it can only help in so far as people are willing to open their minds to embrace change
—— Kirkus (Starred Review)Roper’s Luther is an angry man: a renegade and a rebel… [She] paints a vivid picture of the political and economic context in Mansfeld, where Luther grew up, and of the situation of Wittenberg and its political governance. There are important findings here, particularly relating to Luther’s early life
—— Charlotte Methuen , The Times Literary SupplementRoper writes with the virtuosity of an unsurpassed archival researcher, the grace of an elegant stylist, and the compassion of a seasoned student of human nature. Her nuanced and insightful portrait brilliantly evokes the inner and outer worlds of the man Luther. The book is a complete triumph.
—— Joel F. Harrington, author of The Faithful ExecutionerMagnificent and surely definitive – a work of immense scholarship, acute psychological insight and gloriously fluent prose. Lyndal Roper has got under the skin of her subject and the result is thrilling.
—— Jessie Childs, author of Henry VIII’s Last Victim and God’s TraitorsRoper’s scholarly strengths plus 10 years of careful research have yielded a richly contextualised biography of a man whose influence has been and remains enormous, for good or ill or both.
—— Brad Gregory , TabletThis is a helpful and insightful examination of Luther’s attitudes and relationships… Highly recommended.
—— Martin Wellings , Methodist RecorderRoper portrays a deeply flawed but fascinating human being to rival any of the major personalities of Tudor England.
—— Caroline Sanderson , BooksellerI heartily commend Martin Luther… It is simply the best English-language biography of Luther I’ve read and I’d be amazed if its combination of rigorous scholarship and approachable tone is bettered.
—— Francis Philips , Catholic Herald, Book of the Year[A] superb new biography… A challenging and deeply stimulating study of a major historical figure.
—— Elaine Fulton , History TodayThe work of a brilliant scholar, who had devoted years of research to the project, and it repays careful reading… There are rich treasures in the book, without a bout. Roper has a great gift for narrative… Roper’s exploration of the cultural and social world of the Saxon miners is masterly… Fascinating.
—— Euan Cameron , Church TimesA probing psychological account.
—— Very Rev. Professor Iain Torrence , Herald Scotland