Kirjahaku

Peter Rowland, a one-time local government officer, is a well-known historian and biographer and occasional writer of fiction. More information will be found on www.peter.rowland.org.uk . Some reactions to Lloyd George (1975) "Competent and complete." - The Times "The best biography we have." - The Economist "Has far surpassed earlier biographers...comprehensive, scholarly and readable."- Irish Independent "An outsize account of an outsize figure." - The New Yorker "A narrative style that scarcely ever limps. There is great energy and purpose with Mr Rowland as our guide." - The Political Quarterly "Not a word of it is dull." - Oxford Mail "A great improvement on its predecessors...A substantial work of political biography." - A.J.P. Taylor, The Observer "Well written and workmanlike - the result of massive research." - Lord Boothby, Books and Bookmen "It will be a long while before it is replaced." - Robert Blake, The Sunday Times

So far as it goes, Goddesses Three is an absorbing study of the Pontifex family, and (ultimately) of Anglo-Portuguese relations. E.W. Hornung apparently began writing this book in 1894 but put it aside after completing eleven chapters. Set primarily in an English Rectory, it is very much a work in progress, written partly in pencil and partly in ink, and incorporating a vast number of revisions. In addition to deciphering 99% of the manuscript, and producing an edited text for the general reader, the editor has examined it on a chapter-by-chapter basis. This results in a fuller notion of how the story was being shaped and the occasional problems encountered - and pinpoints Hornung's consequent changes and instructions to himself. We are, as it were, looking over his shoulder for the whole time, and gain (as a result) a fascinating insight into how a Victorian novel took shape.

As this dynamic biography reveals, the writer Ernest William Hornung (1866-1921) became a household name in the 1890s. Peter Rowland's superb literary biography traces Hornung's rise to fame and fortune, as the writer deftly turned his hand to comedy, romance, and drama.

A Naturalist's Guide to the Insects of Australia is an easy-to-use introductory photographic identification guide to 292 species of insect commonly seen in Australia. The 2nd edition includes updated taxonomy and an extensive collection of new images of the species covered. High quality photographs from Australia's top nature photographers are accompanied by detailed species descriptions, which include nomenclature, size, distribution, habitat and habits. The user-friendly introduction covers modern Australian insects, non-insect hexapods and life cycles. Also included is an up-to-date checklist of the insect families of Australia listing the number of genera and species in each family.

Lanoe Falconer (nom de plume of Mary Elizabeth Hawker) was one of England s most accomplished young writers in the 1890s; her novel Mademoiselle Ixe a bestseller and an international hit. Her short stories and novels were compared favourably to Jane Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell among others. Her promising career was cut short by chronic illness.Peter Rowland began his research by discovering a large mass of Falconer’s unpublished material including personal documents. He took this trove as a starting point to reconstruct and review Falconer s work after almost a century of neglect. Falconer left a small enduring body of work and the author has included several of her short stories in this study to introduce researchers and other readers to the literary quality, power and scope of the unobtrusive Miss Hawker.

Two major Dickens studies, each of them breaking fresh ground, vie for attention in this absorbing volume. The first explores the extent to which Charles Dickens inherited the mantle of Charles Lamb; the second explores the strained relationship between Dickens, the leading novelist of the day, and T.B. Macaulay, the leading historian of the day.