LIVES OF THE NOVELISTS

John Sutherland is a noted academic and literary critic, and in this massive new hardback reference book he devotes separate essays (mostly between two and four pages) to 294 writers of fiction in the English language, ranging in time from John Bunyan, Daniel Defoe, Jane Austen to Ian McEwan, Paul Auster and Martin Amis.
The publishers claim that it is the most complete history of fiction in English ever published and that Sutherland is arguably the only person who could have written it. I am not qualified to comment on such claims but I will say that at over 800 pages it is certainly a very serious and authoritative survey.If there is someone in your family who is a serious bibiophile and you'd like a gift costing NZ$75 then this could well be your solution.
Profile Books - NZ$75