Conan Doyle: The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes

Description

Though Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's name is recognised the world over, for decades he was overshadowed by his creation, Sherlock Holmes - one of literature's most enduring characters. Conan Doyle was a man of many contradictions. Romantic, energetic, idealistic and upstanding, he could also be selfish and foolhardy. Lycett assembles the many threads of Conan Doyle's life, including the lasting impact of his domineering mother and his alcoholic father; his affair with a younger woman while his wife lay dying; and his fanatical pursuit of scientific data to prove and explain various supernatural phenomena. Lycett combines access to new material with assiduous research and penetrating insight to offer the most comprehensive, lucid and sympathetic portrait yet of Conan Doyle's personal journey from student to doctor, from world-famous author to ardent spiritualist.

Andrew Lycett was educated at Charterhouse and went on to read modern history at Christ Church, Oxford. As a foreign reporter he specialised in Africa and the Middle East. A full-time author since the early 1990s, he has written a number of highly acclaimed biographies and lives in north London.

'Conan Doyle has found a biographer of distinction in Andrew Lycett' - GUARDIAN '[An] excellent biography. Comprehensive and authoritative, it is undoubtedly the best account of Doyle to date' - SUNDAY TIMES 'In Andrew Lycett's hugely enjoyable new biography, the sheer breathtaking dynamism of the man shines through' - SUNDAY TELEGRAPH A compelling portrait ... This is a model biography: lucid, fair and unfailingly readable - MAIL ON SUNDAY Shrewd and thorough ... Entertaining - INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY A serious piece of work by an experienced professional biographer ... Particularly good on the intellectual background to Doyle's work - ECONOMIST Lycett's sophisticated account reveals a character with light and shade - DAILY TELEGRAPH Lycett's book has the effect of moving Conan Doyle into our age - SCOTTISH REVIEW OF BOOKS