BIOGRAPHIES GALORE

I am astonished at just how many biographies there are being published righ now. In recent times the following have landed on my desk:

A PERFECT GENTLEMAN
The Sir Winston Whineray Story
Bob Howitt

THE FRY CHRONICLES
an atobiography
Stephen Fry

SO MUCH TO TELL - KAYE WEBB
Valerie Grove
Viking

WAIT FOR ME
Memoirs of the Youngest Mitford Sister
Deborah Devonshire

THE ELEPHANT TO HOLLYWOOD
Michael Cain
Hodder & Stoughton

STORYTELLER
The Life of Roald Dahl
Donald Sturrock
Harper Press

And of course in between I have recently looked at memoirs by Dame Cath Tizzard, Wendy Nissen, Kerre Woodham, Joy Cowley, C.K.Stead, and next month the much anticipated memoir from Kevin Milne of Fair Go fame is due. More about that later.

A PERFECT GENTLEMAN

The Sir Winston Whineray Story

Bob Howitt

Harper Collins Hardback - $50

Few New Zealanders have achieved the iconic status of Sir Wilson Whineray, who has been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame, the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame, and the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame.

His achievements in rugby and business are truly remarkable.
Whineray was arguably the All Blacks’ greatest captain, and certainly its greatest ambassador, leading his team on major tours of South Africa and Great Britain at a time when tours were monumental undertakings of three to four months’ duration.

At the end of his rugby career and after obtaining an MBA from Harvard University, Sir Wilson launched his business career with Alex Harvey Industries. He went on to became deputy managing director, and ultimately chairman of the board of Carter Holt Harvey, one of New Zealand’s pre-eminent companies.

In researching and writing A Perfect Gentleman, Bob Howitt spent countless hours with Sir Wilson, his friends and family, rugby and business colleagues, and has uncovered a myriad of enthralling stories to produce a book of magical quality. At last New Zealanders will get to read about the life and times of one of New Zealand’s greatest sons who in the word’s Sir Wilson’s great friend ‘Pinetree’ Meads, was ‘always a perfect gentleman’.

THE FRY CHRONICLES

an atobiography

Stephen Fry

Michael Joseph -Hardback - $46

Review from The Observer posted earlier on this blog.


SO MUCH TO TELL - KAYE WEBB

Valerie Grove
Viking - Hardback - $57

Kaye Webb probably influenced me more in my publishing life than any other person, with the possible exception of former Penguin supremo Peter Mayer.
She was of course the most famous and successful Editor
of Penguin's celebrated Puffin imprint and I shall never forget her bubbling enthusiasm for children's books on every occasion I met her.
Nor shall I forget the memorable occasion when I was guest of honour at a party in her beautiful home in London's Little Venice. Among the guests invited along to meet me were authors Philippa Pearce, Peter Dickinson, Russell Hoban, Leon Garfield, Jill Paton Walsh, Pat Hutchins, Elizabeth Beresford, Richard Hough (pen name Bruce Carter), with Edward Ardizzone and others ending apologies. From Kaye's Puffin empire came Jane Nissen, Felicity Trotman, Dorothy Wood, Tony Lacy and Patrick Hardy. It was like a who's who of the childern's book world at that time and I felt ever so honoured.
I had corresponded with Kaye way back in my Napier bookselling days, Beattie & Forbes bookshop was one of the largest outlets in NZ for Puffins in those days, and I had come to her attention. She was delighted, as I was, when I joined Penguin and we became colleagues.
Although her professional life was a brilliant success the same cannot be said for her private life and behind the scenes she was often a rather sad person. She had two husbands before her doomed marriage to the artist Ronald Searle and she never really got over the torment of his sudden desertion.
So this is the story, wonderfully told, of this very special woman who brought the joy of books to children everywhere while battling the emotional pain that plagued her private life. She died in Jnauray 1996 and I miss her still.I confess that tears are streaming down my face as I write this.

WAIT FOR ME

Memoirs of the Youngest Mitford Sister
Deborah Devonshire
John Murray - Trade Paperback - $45

Deborah Devonshire is a natural writer with a knack for the telling phrase and for hitting the nail on the head. She tells the story of her upbringing, lovingly and wittily describing her parents (so memorably fictionalised by her sister Nancy); she talks candidly about her brother and sisters, and their politics (while not being at all political herself), finally setting the record straight. Throughout the book she writes brilliantly about the country and her deep attachment to it and those who live and work in it. As Duchess of Devonshire, Debo played an active role in restoring and overseeing the day-to-day running of the family houses and gardens, and in developing commercial enterprises at Chatsworth. She tells poignantly of the deaths of three of her children, as well as her husband’s battle with alcohol addiction. Wait For Me is enthralling and a total joy, full of the author’s sympathetic wit (which she is not afraid to use on herself).


THE ELEPHANT TO HOLLYWOOD

Michael Cain
Hodder & Stoughton-Trade Paperback- $40
It’s been a long journey for Maurice Micklewhite – born with rickets in London’s poverty-stricken Elephant & Castle – to the bright lights of Hollywood.
With a glittering career spanning more than five decades and starring roles which have earned him two Oscars, a knighthood, and an iconic place in the Hollywood pantheon, the man now known to us as Michael Caine looks back over it all.
Funny, warm, honest, Caine brings his insider’s view of Hollywood (where there’s neither holly nor woods). He recalls the films, the legendary stars, the off-screen moments with a gift for story-telling only equalled by David Niven.

A plaque now celebrates him at the Elephant in London. His handprint is one of only 200 since 1927 to decorate Hollywood Boulevard.

Sir Michael Caine CBE has starred in over one hundred films, becoming well-known for several critically acclaimed performances including his first major film role in Zulu in 1964, followed by films including The Ipcress File, Get Carter, Alfie, The Italian Job, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Educating Rita, and more recently The Dark Knight, Is Anybody There? and Harry Brown. He was appointed a CBE in 1992 and knighted in 2000 in recognition of his contribution to cinema.
Married for more than 30 years, with two daughters and three grandchildren, he and his wife Shakira divide their time between England and the United States.

STORYTELLER

The Life of Roald Dahl
Donald Sturrock
Harper Press - Trade Paperback - $40

This is the book author Joy Cowley said in the Herald on Sunday last week that she is currently reading. I suspect it will take her a while as it runs to a whopping 650 pages!
Roald Dahl pushed children's literature into new and uncharted territory. More than fifteen years after his death, his popularity around the globe continues to grow, and worldwide sales of his books have now topped 100 million.

The man behind the stories, however, remains an enigma. Dahl was a single-minded adventurer, an eternal child, but his public persona was characterised by his blunt opinions on taboo subjects. Described as an anti-Semite, a racist and a misogynist, he felt ignored and undervalued by the literary establishments of London and New York.

To his readers, though, Dahl was always a hero, and since his death his reputation has been transformed. His wild imagination is now celebrated, along with his quirky humour and his linguistic elegance. Figures like Willy Wonka, the BFG and the Grand High Witch are nothing less than immortal literary creations, and in a recent poll he beat J. K. Rowling to win the title of Britain's favourite author.

In this masterly biography, Donald Sturrock draws on a huge range of source material that has become available since Dahl's death. The result is revealing, compelling and a pure joy to read.
And how is this for an endorsement from the illustrator of Dahl's books for young readers:
“Irresistible. I thought I knew quite a lot about Roald Dahl, but now I know much much more. Donald Sturrok’s book lucidly describes a complicated life and relates it to the richness of Dahl’s storytelling.” Quentin Blake

NZ author Joy Cowley, metioned above, got to know Dahl so it will be interesting to learn at some stage what she thought of the biography.

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A BROWN PAPER BAG
Kevin Milne
Random House - $40
This is due for publication on 5 November so one will have to wait a while yet but being one of NZ's most admired and trusted people the 25 year veteran of  the popular TV series Fair Go Kevin Milne's book is sure to be in keen demand. Intriguing title too.
More in due course.