Author:Frances Spalding
'The best of these Darwins is that they are cut out of rock - three taps is enough to convince one how immense is their solidarity.' So wrote Virginia Woolf affectionately of Gwen Raverat, the granddaughter of Charles Darwin.
In this first full biography, Frances Spalding looks beyond the artist Gwen Raverat's childhood memoir; Period Piece, and creates a fascinating and moving portrait of Charles Darwin's granddaughter. She explores her Darwin inheritance; her conflicts when she moves beyond her home environment to enter the Slade School of Art; her encounter with post-Impressionism; and her friendships with Stanley Spencer, Rupert Brooke and members of the Bloomsbury set. At each stage, Gwen's artistic creativity is interwoven with her relationships and circumstances. She helps revive the medium of wood-engraving and with her husband, Jacques Raverat, celebrates the South of France in the art they produce while living in Venice.
Drawing on a huge cache of unpublished papers, Spalding brings us a life lived with bravery, humour; realism and integrity, surrounded by a remarkable cast of relatives, friends and associates.
A sympathetic, fastidious and beautifully produced biography...a fascinating portrait of an unusual woman...exquisite
—— Robert McCrum , ObserverThis stylishly produced biography is an objet d'art in its own right, while Spalding's prose adopts the economy of the illustrations: austere, pragmatic and wholly devoid of ostentation
—— GuardianMoving biography
—— Sunday TelegraphFine study of Darwin's grand-daughter and her role in the Bloomsbury movement
—— ObserverJFK is biography at its very best
—— Andrew Preston , The SpectatorHugely entertaining.
—— Tim Adams , ObserverAnother rollicking, food-stuffed entertainment... Gourmets and gourmands will savour this.
—— Adam Begley , SpectatorA chomping, romping, savoury tour de force: by turns hilarious (often at his own expense); and seriously thought provoking about our relationship with cooking and appetite... You finish it stuffed and groggy with happy illumination but as with every great feast, wanting even more!
—— Simon SchamaI admire this book enormously; it's a profound and intuitive work of immersive journalism.
—— Dwight Garner , New York TimesBy turns funny, intimate, insightful, and occasionally heartbreaking. It's a remarkable book, and even readers who don't know a sabayon from a Sabatier will find it endlessly rewarding.
—— Publishers Weekly, starred reviewA warm and funny and very delicious story about a man late in life falling in love with cooking... Buford [is] an energetic, exquisite writer.
—— John Freeman , Lit HubOne of the greatest writers of his generation... Bill's latest is required reading for anyone with a love of history, good eating, and masterful storytelling.
—— David ChangA welcome reminder of simpler times... Buford's writing is filled with humor and heart.
—— Annabel Gutterman , TIME[An] ecstatic, turbocharged book.
—— Francesca Carington , Tatler *Best New Autumnal Reads*Buford has an inexhaustible zest for life; the book is a tour de force.
—— Karen Barnes , DeliciousPure pleasure. Masterfully written. If you care at all about food, about writing, about obsessive people with a sense of adventure, you have to read this book. It is, in a word, wonderful.
—— Ruth ReichlA book to drool for. Magnifique!
—— Mary NorrisFluidly readable... exhaustive and enlightening.
—— Stuart Walton , World of Fine WineAs reportage, it's as immersive as you could wish for. It's also hilarious and humbling
—— Hephzibah Anderson , Observer
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