The author raids memoirs and letters but adds little of her own in this juicy group biography of writers’ marriages

The novelist on George Orwell’s doublespeak, the psychology of addiction, and the unbearable darkness of Émile Zola

If you’re reading a novel, the chances are you’ll be able to relate to characters who love reading, too. These works showcase some of literature’s finest bibliophiles

From Du Maurier to Balzac, cousins can be cruel and exploitative, beacons of sexual yearning, or wealthy benefactors who save the day - and the author’s plot

In a year that has seen landmark biographies, literary reinventions and the loss of some leading lights, here are six female authors whose work lives on

For a time known as much for her beauty and love life as her admired Cazalet novels, Howard emerges from this biography as both vulnerable and formidable

Elizabeth Jane Howard’s exquisite and understated novels have been overshadowed by her turbulent private life. But is the real reason why they are underestimated because they are books ‘about women, by a woman’?

Some writers obsess about love, or memory – Amis built an empire out of irritation. In Ending Up, he presented a group of people who turned annoying one another into a fine art. Craig Brown salutes the laureate of exasperation