The modern “descent into Hell” was done very well. The central character is fresh and funny and the motivation was hilarious - the need to have a PhD supervisor!
I don’t usually find non-fiction books this gripping but Blunt’s treachery is so shocking when lined up against his career that I found I had to get to the end in the same way one does a murder mystery.
When Anthony Blunt died in 1983, he was a man about whom almost anything could be - and was - said. As Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures and Director of the Courtauld Institute, Blunt's position was assured until his exposure in 1979 left his reputation in tatters. Miranda Carter's brilliantly insightful biography gives us a vivid portrait of a human paradox. Blunt's totally discrete lives, with their permanent contradictions, serve to remind us that there is no one key to any human being's identity: we are all a series of conflicting selves.
PICK OF THE MONTH - THE SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE MONTH - THE INDEPENDENT "Excellent... A lively tale of adventure and intrigue, rich in period detail." - The Times "A thoroughly enjoyable historical thriller... great fun." - The Mail on Sunday
January 1670. London is enduring its worst winter in decades. But for Samuel Pepys, the darkest days are yet to come.
When a strange young man turns up at his office on Seething Lane asking for help, Samuel Pepys is too distracted to take him seriously. Nell Gwyn is about to make her scandalous return to the stage…
Join the first century Latin poet Ovid in exile on the edge of the Roman Empire - and solve murders! First in a series starring a love poet and an ex-centurion, discover the world of Tomis, the St Mary Mead of the Roman Empire.
