Donald Trelford

Mad On Paper

First Lady of Fleet Street: The Life, Fortune and Tragedy of Rachel Beer

By

JR Books 342pp £20 order from our bookshop

This is a book that many journalists on The Observer and The Sunday Times must wish they had thought of writing. Rachel Beer’s name has always cropped up in articles about the two papers’ histories as the woman who, however implausible it may sound, edited both at the same time at the turn of the twentieth century before going mad. That, however, was all the information anyone seemed to have. Now, thanks to Yehuda Koren and his partner (‘in life and in work’) Eilat Negev, that is no longer the case. Indeed the authors, both Israeli journalists, have unearthed more material than they can comfortably handle.

Sign Up to our newsletter

Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.

Follow Literary Review on Twitter

  • Last Tweets

    • The author 'seethes with contemptuous indignation at the shiny junk that an unregulated construction industry dumps… ,
    • 'The physical courage he demonstrated as a young man [...] gave way to intellectual power; radical thought, gifted… ,
    • 'While Jane Austen didn’t perhaps achieve the full recognition that she deserved in her lifetime, even then she out… ,
    • 'All I have is a voice To undo the folded lie, The romantic lie in the brain Of the sensual man-in-the-street And t… ,
    • 'You are interested in a particular subject; basic research hardens this interest into an obsession, after which th… ,
    • 'Keynes predicted that future generations would enjoy such an improved standard of living that they might work just… ,
    • 'Various dislocations ... emerge, iceberg-like, out of a troubled sea of unconscious motivation and confront Eisenb… ,
    Follow Us