Like reading one of Elizabeth Bowen's great novels, this award winning biography is gently elegiac, beautifully written and fascinating. Uncovering the hidden love triangle between novelist Elizabeth Bowen and the author's grandparents, this critically acclaimed biography deals with never-before-seen letters detailing the affair. A death in the family delivers Julia Parry a box of letters. Dusty with age they reveal a secret love affair between the celebrated novelist Elizabeth Bowen and the academic Humphry House, Julia's grandfather. So begins a life changing quest to understand the affair which had profound repercussions for Julia's family, not least her grandmother Madeline. Julia traces these three very different characters through 1930s Oxford and Ireland, Texas, Calcutta in the last days of Empire, and on into World War Two. With a supporting cast that includes Isaiah Berlin and Virginia Woolf, much is revealed about her bookish and kindly grandfather, and his sudden death, and Parry is a spirited narrator who is clearly a great admirer of Bowen's fiction but isn't blindsided by this. The affair lasted roughly from 1933 to 1935 and, obsessed with hauntings, journeys and houses, Bowen might even approve of this book. 373pp, paperback. Photos.

George and Cassandra Austen came from markedly different backgrounds so social class and the tensions it can cause played a part in Jane Austen's life even before her birth in 1775. George possessed 'a most exquisite taste in every species of literature'. Here are extraordinary aspects of Austen's life, work and legacy in this collection of stories and trivia from her unassuming family origins, secret life and loves, and intriguing tales behind the literary and screen adaptations of her works. Covers the Austen family's long tenure at Steventon until the Rectory was finally destroyed by floods, Jane's juvenile parody History of England, the lifelong attachment between sisters Jane and Cassandra, notorious cousin Eliza, the Tom Lefroy affair and a foretaste of Pride and Prejudice, problems with publishers, Jane's 'marriage', gold chains and topaz crosses as gifts from a little brother, Jane's aunt put in prison for theft and shocking news of the move to Bath. A close confidante falls from her horse and suddenly dies, the Austen brothers avert a financial crisis, the final move to Chawton, Mansfield Park pioneers the theme of meritocracy, John Murray publishes Emma which has considerable impact with Scott's adulatory review, here are insights into her remarkable novels and their characters, the changing reception to the novels over the years and her sweeping legacy today. A fascinating collection, 144pp, well illustrated with photos and line art.

The Upstart Crow, Shakespeare's heyday in theatreland, final stage performance, retirement speech, Philip Henslowe the Elizabethan impresario, Ben Jonson, the birth of London's Globe Theatre and its rebuilding, stage costumes in Elizabethan England, make-up concoctions some harmless others not, memorials to Shakespeare, his characters, mysteries of his portrait, priceless First Folio, and his stellar legacy, here is a chronology of Shakespeare's plays, possible models for the comic character, the 'lost' plays, hellraisers. Also public scandals, toe-curling homage and Star Trek littered with Shakespeare references, and in popular songs and novels, plus the historical settings for Shakespeare's plays, insights into his most famous characters, tales from the theatres around the globe in a rich concoction of stories and trivia. 144pp, woodcut illus.