In 2000 the biennial Durrell conference took place in Corfu and I went with my sister. On one of the days everyone went up to Kalami by boat and had lunch at the White House taverna. After that a plaque … Continue reading →

I’m just coming to the end of Claire Tomalin’s terrific Dickens biography – she seems to get his mixture of charm and kindness and cruelty very well, though one can tell she is pained by his terrible lapses, as in … Continue reading →

There’s a new way of showing when an author has arrived in the hall of fame – when they become a fridge magnet. When I was researching Amateurs in the British Library, I was delighted to discover that Tropic of … Continue reading →