![]() ![]() ![]() And as you might expect from a poet, Leviston has a beautiful way with prose. Although the narratives seem separate – whether it’s a TV journalist cracking up on air, a university librarian hiring a robot to take care of her demanding mother or a babysitter in an increasingly bizarre situation – they are connected by ideas both thematic and personal, not least the presence of overbearing, suffocating mothers. The Eric Gregory award-winning poet Frances Leviston makes an auspicious fictional debut with this collection of short stories, all revolving around women named Claire. As befits a consultant to Horrible Histories, Jenner brings his material to vivid life, although occasionally he sacrifices nuance for the broad brush: comparing the castrato Farinelli to Justin Bieber, for instance, is a dumbing-down too far. In this engaging and well-researched book, historian Greg Jenner looks at everyone from Lord Byron to Sarah Bernhardt to prove his thesis that celebrity (and the ways it is won, managed and lost), has changed little over the centuries. ![]()
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