“Sisman’s account has the pace and heady excitement of a battle narrative, where everything is being risked…. extraordinarily gripping…wonderfully vivid…brilliant.” Richard Holmes, New York Review of Books

“Fabulously entertaining, deft and witty.” Philip Hensher, Spectator

“A brilliant anatomy of modern biography.” Michael Holroyd

“Sisman’s book is a treat…it has a clarity and a dramatic dynamic that makes it hard to put down.” Hilary Spurling, Daily Telegraph