Books by Claire Harman
Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Biography
Being asked to write the biography of Warner back in 1982 was a life-changing event for me, and I was very fortunate in being allowed to take my time over it – seven years as it turned out. The literary executors had a schedule in mind, and some of the biographical material could only be published after certain people were dead. This meant I could carry on the research far longer than is normally possible (which was convenient, as my family were all very young), and though there were moments when I thought I would never finish the book, with hindsight I think it was a very good way to write it. When I started, Warner was only recently dead, and it took a while to introduce myself into a group of rather disparate friends, enemies and family and to reconstruct the facts of her life. Just reading through her diaries took a couple of years, and finding the shape of her life and work of course took much longer. But nothing could have been more rewarding: Warner's cast of mind and turn of phrase delight me as much now as ever. I think she is a pattern of female genius.
Sylvia Townsend Warner was published by Chatto & Windus and Minerva in the UK. It was shortlisted for a number of awards, including the Yorkshire Post Book of the Year, and won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1990 for ‘a book of value from a writer of growing stature’.
From reviews of Sylvia Townsend Warner:
“A living and revelatory biography, as passionate and truthful, elegant and enchanting as its subject. Claire Harman restores Sylvia Townsend Warner to her real place as, in her best works, second only to Virginia Woolf among the women writers of our century”
George D Painter
“A fascinating and moving tale, told with insight, sympathy and objectivity”
TLS
“Harman skillfully weaves Sylvia's stories and letters into the biography, and the brilliance of the samples on display constantly takes you aback … Outstanding”
John Carey, Sunday Times
“Really interesting and totally gripping. It evokes a person and a period and a whole world in a very effective way”
Victoria Glendinning
“As lively and perceptive as this idiosyncratic, rewarding writer deserves”
New Statesman
Click here to read an extract from Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Biography
