The key to a good biography is that it picks you up and drops you right in the middle of the protagonist's life and allows you to see the world with new eyes.

 In nothing is this more important than in historical biographies, where you're given the protagonist as a unique focus to anchor you as you look around the period of history that they grew in.

The Tudor period is arguably the most famous in all of Britain's history: it held the devastation of the reformation, it encompassed the rise of the printing press, the discovery of 'new worlds', and the flourishing of great art and the rise of charismatic personalities that were rapidly brought to test by some of the most turbulent and back-stabbing political changes that the country had experienced. It was also, fundamentally, a watershed period for the rise of female agency and rule in areas that had previously been barred to them. With such a rich and well known period of history to navigate - with lists of influential names and machinations to remember - having an anchor to hold on to is what prevents everything from becoming all too academic and alien. Mary Lovell presents Bess of Hardwick as that anchor in her biography, and the great lady proves to be a fantastic guide.

Bess of Hardwick was the first lady of Chatsworth house and rose to become the second richest and most powerful woman in the country, under Queen Elizabeth herself. She was born into genteel family that was far from wealthy by noblity's standards. She was first widowed at sixteen, going on to survive three more husbands. Her fourth marriage to the Earl of Shrewsbury was beset by problems as the couple struggled to keep together under their duty of the gaurdianship (and imprisonment) of Mary Queen of Scots for fifteen years, and the marriage eventually broke apart under her husband's declining mental health.

Mary Queen of Scots: Bess' friend and enemy

Despite these challenges, Bess worked hard to secure the future of her children and to secure and grow her fortune, becoming a self taught enthusiastic businesswoman in what was very much a man's world. Forging her independence and relying on her own natural charisma and intelligence, she made sure that she was a valuable asset to the court and managed to weather through the reigns of four famous monarchs while many of her friends fell foul of their tempers. In this, despite her modest beginnings, Bess had fantastic success. She was a close personal friend of Elizabeth Ist (although even she was not immune to the effects of the virgin queen's moods) and her own granddaughter Arbella, through Bess' machinations, came tantalisingly close to taking the English throne.

This is the wonderfully written history of the domestic, dynastic and political occupations of an 'ordinary' woman, and offers a unique and very accessible historical perspective. While this is doubtless a feminist history of a remarkable woman, Lovell manages to focus on the day to day realities of this woman's life: while Lovell is impressed and clearly affectionate about her subject, Bess is never coloured as either a martyr or a saint. What the book offers is a rarely glimpses level of detail and reality about what it meant to be a Tudor woman.

Bess herself in the 1550s

Lovell's research is commendable: she has scanned through hundreds and hundreds of letters, household accounts and more to back up her biography with primary research. This gives her the authority to challenge many previous biographies and historical theories about Bess, and she does so with a sense of humble confidence. As with any good historical biography, pages of notes are provided so that, if you wish, you can check her references and do some research of your own.

While this is - I believe - a 'proper' historical work, the narrative style is chronological and detailed while still keeping the emotional flourishes and conjecture that make for a very engaging read. It's impossible to close the final pages of this book without feeling a sense of companionship and admiration for Bess herself. As Alexander Waugh [The Independent on Sunday] commented about the book, it is 'one of those biographies in which the reader really doesn't want the subject to die'.

I thoroughly recommend a read.

Whether you know him from his famous stories or as simply a Doctor Who character, there is no denying that Charles Dickens was a fascinating man.

 Personally, my relationship with Mr. Dickens is one that was formed on his second (or third, or fourth)-hand works. I had hoovered my way through at least six different variations of A Christmas Carol before I actually sat down and read the book. I adored the witty writing and the engaging narrative of the story when I finally did, but one can't help but feel that it was a little lacking in Muppets.
Oliver Twist brought bile to my throat with it's overuse of dodgy cockney accents to the point where I couldn't face reading it, and I found it almost impossible to think of David Copperfield without imagining bipedal cats as all of the characters.
In short then, I had a lot of catching up to do in order to learn about the great writer.

Claire Tomalin's biography Chalres Dickens: A Life promised to give a full account of the life and work of Dickens. Having previously won awards for biographies like The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft  and Jane Austen: A Life, the large task has been placed in good hands.

The book itself is a hefty object at some four and a half centimetres thick in it's hardback form. It's gorgeous to look at, with a low dust sheet with a gold title, which wraps a beautifully rendered full-cover portrait of the man himself. On the inside cover we are treated to a collection of coloured illustrations of some of the famous characters in his books and throughout there are glossy images of his dwellings and friends as well as charmingly drawn maps of his favourite haunts. It's a pleasure to look at and certainly a book you'd want to use to dress your booksheld, quite apart from the content inside.

It's a happy thing, then, that the content of the biography is every part as compelling as it's cover. 

Tomalin takes us through Charles Dicken's life in chunks of years. 'The Sins of the Fathers', 'A London Education', 'Becoming Boz'  deal with his early life as a young man who struggled with a father who was constantly in debt. As a result, Chalres had to work what he viewed as a humiliating role in a blacking factory alone as a child. It moves on to how he found his niche in writing and starts to reveal the hard work which would become the foundation of his success. We are taken through his life and celebrity, his philanthropy, his travels in America and how his growing brood of children affected him. Towards the end chapters Secrets Mysteries and Lies and beyond, we see the great man turn flinching and cruel in equal parts to his charm as he cast out his wife, entered into a secretive affair and how - in the chapter Pickswick, Pecknicks, Pickwicks - his health declined.

Tomalin is an excellent biographer well worth the praise that has been given to her before and after this work. She handles Dickens' life with a factual attention to detail yet with a skilful use of conjecture and narrative colour to really make the reader feel at one with the personality of her subject. There is no hero worship here: Tomalin praises his talent and hard work but also remains critical to his failings as a family man and as a product of Victorian prejudices. Though showing with transparency and care both his strengths and his weaknesses, we walk away feeling as if we truly know the man, which is surely the best compliment to give any biographer.

If you are also inclined to research further into his life (as I'm sure almost anyone would be after this book), Tomalin leaves a brilliant list of recommended works and notes for you to refer to.For example, I found Charles Dicken's philanthropic work in founding a house to care for (and re-educate) prostitutes fascinating, so will be seeking out Tomalin's reccomendation: Charles Dickens and the House of Fallen Women by Jenny Hartley (2008).


In short, this is an excellent work of history and writing well worth a read.