Each of the famous people written about in this book are presented from a point of view new to me. The book added unexpected detail to the lives of many famous people. The perspective was unique and personal and therefore more real than many biographies written from research. After reading so many Bloomsbury books that featured a young Bunny Garnett, to see the cover of him as an old man is startling. ( )

A very interesting and well-written book about 17 authors that David Garnett knew personally, such as H G Wells, Virginia Woolf, D H Lawrence and Joseph Conrad. Enjoyable to read and to ponder on. ( )