Stubbs succeeds in offering something delicate, subtle and new. ... In [this] fine and sensitive book, Stubbs restores Swift's writing to its rich religious and cultural contexts without diminishing its autonomy

Stubbs is an ideal guide to the tortuous ins and outs of Swift's time, an age defined by its political and religious conflicts, and their effects on his writing.

In this superb biography, Stubbs succeeds in enabling us to understand the complexities and character of this greatest of writers

John Stubbs handles the intensely complicated political and historical background to Swift's life with admirable deftness and clarity. There have been dozens of lives of Swift. This one, unlike some of its predecessors, is readable, sane, alert and beautifully observed

Stubbs goes further than any [biographer] previously in recreating the world Swift lived and exploring the duality of his character. ... [Along] with beautifully crafted lines... Another feature of Stubb's biography is its vast historical scholarship. As well as giving us a thoroughly credible Swift, this is a riveting account of English and Irish life in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. If there can be a definitive life of Jonathan Swift, this is it

Stubbs offers a kinder, rather admiring inspection of the great fighter and ruthless truth-teller

Impressive [and] astoundingly readable

An entertaining and ambitious work that intelligently binds together the art and the politics of mid-17th-century England

On fire with ideas and enthusiasm, excels at providing Donne with a living context

Highly readable, dashing as well as detailed

Sensational and gripping . . . shedding light on some of the most urgent issues of our time

Luminous, elegant, haunting - I read it straight through

Deeply moving. Writes with an almost Sebaldian simplicity and understatement

Harrowing and beautiful

An awe-inspiring account of the tragedies and triumphs within the world of the Holocaust's "hide-away" children, and of the families who sheltered them

The Cut Out Girl is a reminder of the extraordinary richness of archives and the treasures released by scholarly research

An extraordinary story, harrowing, deeply affecting. This fascinating story is guaranteed to haunt you

A moving story of personal and family history, with a scholar's objective eye for the bigger picture.

Harrowing . . . profoundly moving

Satisfyingly detailed, yet with a convincing overarching thesis.

[Heffer] has really excelled himself with this epic study of Britain in the years before the First World War. Majestic in its scope, meticulous in its scholarship, compelling in its thesis and stylish in its prose, his heavyweight book challenges the familiar historical tale of confidence and swagger and presents the age in a more complex, sombre light . . . The author has done an extraordinary amount of research, unearthing a wealth of new material from archives. . . . It is impossible to read this magnificent work without gaining a deep new understanding of a unique and troubled age.

[One of] the best historical books to gift others this Christmas.

Heffer has turned himself into one of Britain’s most accomplished and formidable men of letters . . . Heffer is a genuine intellectual with a shelf of books to his credit.

An epic survey . . . Simon Heffer’s intricately detailed account ends with Britain diminished and on the brink of catastrophe.

London's Big Read wants to get the capital talking about [Brit(ish)] ... a personal and provocative exploration of British history, race, identity and belonging.

Afua Hirsch's new book uses the personal and political to take a good look at what it's like to be a person of colour here, now. Here's where you'll get an insight into what it means to be a mixed race and univocally British, yet continuously plagued with the question 'but where are you really from?'

An excellent read.

[A] personal and admirably honest account of her journey towards self-realisation as a woman of colour.

A fascinating...deeply intelligent, witty and often moving exploration of race in modern Britain

Afua Hirsch's first book, Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging, was published to wide acclaim at the start of 2018. She looks at the many, multi-faceted questions that surround identity - both on a personal and societal scale - to pen a thought-provoking read.

It is a life-shaping read.

Brit(ish) stands out from a crop of books on growing up mixed race in 70s Britain.

Brit(ish) is an essential read for all. Hirsch's exploration of her identity brings to light the difficulties of growing up as mixed-race and black in Britain. She also challenges the British perception of race, and how our inability to confront our past has profoundly affected our ability to coherently understand and discuss race in our present. Brit(ish) is a call to action, if we genuinely want to progress as a society, we must change our discussions and understanding of race.

A personal, political and challenging account of what it means to be British when you are racialised as Black. Hirsch is a brilliant and fearless intellect who deftly handles the complexity of the issues