Simon Heffer
Settling Scores
Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century
By Paul Kildea
Allen Lane/The Penguin Press 666pp £30 order from our bookshop
Benjamin Britten’s centenary this year would not be complete without a new biography that its publishers are selling as the definitive life of the greatest British composer of the 20th century. Sadly, any reader who swallows either contention may be disappointed.
Paul Kildea ought to have written a superb book. He has published two other admirable works on Britten, the first of which, Selling Britten, was expanded from the thesis for his Oxford doctorate. In this biography, he has discovered the shocking medical fact that Britten died partly as a result
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Stuck for a Father's Day gift?
We'll send you a free hardback copy of @BurlM11's 'Day of the Assassins when you subscribe OR give a gift subscription to Literary Review.
Enter the code FATHER21 at checkout.
https://www.mymagazinesub.co.uk/literary-review/promo/father21/
'This is one of the most engaging cold-case novels I have read.'
@NJCooper_crime reviews novels by @sarah_hilary, @erskine_fiona, @aadhand, @claremackint0sh, @imranmahmood777, @NancyCNTucker, @josephknox__, @SlaughterKarin, @T_J_Newman & @Egan_Hughes.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/june-2021-crime-round-up
'Here Rogers’s focus is upon the protracted, often puerile fight between the hardened Grub Street professional and a thin-skinned, unforgiving writer.'
Freya Johnston on the time Alexander Pope took on Grub Street.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/a-writers-revenge