Patrick Taylor-Martin
Sixty-a-Day Chap
There is now a thriving C S Lewis industry. It would be very surprising if this were the only book about Lewis to appear this year. Of course, there is also something of an A N Wilson industry. It would be equally surprising if this were the only book by Wilson to appear this year. A dozen novels, four biographies and vast quantities of miscellaneous writing to his credit, it can only be a matter of time before somebody gets round to writing a book about him.
The suggestion for this biography came from the publishers and from Walter Hooper, chief guardian of Lewis’s memory. One can understand why they felt that a distinguished Oxonian writer with Anglican predilections would be the ideal man for the job. Certainly, Wilson has produced a predictably intelligent and readable book. One cannot help thinking, however, that there was no great need for a new biography of Lewis.
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
'The authors do not shrink from spelling out the scale of the killings when the Rhodesians made long-distance raids on guerrilla camps in Mozambique and Zambia.'
Xan Smiley on how Rhodesia became Zimbabwe.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/what-the-secret-agent-saw
'Thirkell was a product of her time and her class. For her there are no sacred cows, barring those that win ribbons at the Barchester Agricultural.'
The novelist Angela Thirkell is due a revival, says Patricia T O'Conner (£).
https://literaryreview.co.uk/good-gad
'Only in Britain, perhaps, could spy chiefs – conventionally viewed as masters of subterfuge – be so highly regarded as ethical guides.'
https://literaryreview.co.uk/the-spy-who-taught-me