C. S. Burrough

Room at the Top by John Braine My rating:  4 out of 5 stars This good old (1957) nostalgic late-night read had me gripped from start to fini...

Lost Empires by J.B. Priestley My rating:  5 out of 5 stars I love this 1965 J. B. Priestley novel so much I've read it four times. A yo...

Elizabeth: The Life of Elizabeth Taylor by Alexander Walker My rating:  4 out of 5 stars Having picked up, opened, then flung aside many a s...

Tales of the Wide Caribbean by Jean Rhys My rating:  5 out of 5 stars Published six years after her death, when she was still highly acclaim...

Blood Sisters: The Women Behind The Wars Of The Roses by Sarah Gristwood My rating:  4 out of 5 stars Framing this period as a female saga h...

Audrey: Her Real Story by Alexander Walker My rating: 4 out of 5 stars   Another great job by Alexander Walker, this story covers the life a...

Fabulous Nobodies by Lee Tulloch My rating:  4 out of 5 stars This hysterical read had me giggling like a schoolgirl, quite some years ago. ...

A Gambling Man: Charles II's Restoration Game by Jenny Uglow My rating:  4 out of 5 stars Restoration monarch Charles II I had long proc...

Edward VI: The Lost King of England by Chris Skidmore My rating:  5 out of 5 stars Chris Skidmore makes courageous choices addressing topics...

Possessed: The Life of Joan Crawford by Donald Spoto My rating:  4 out of 5 stars Donald Spoto is one of my favourite Hollywood biographers....

Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis by Ed Sikov My rating:  4 out of 5 stars As a woman she was renowned for being earthier than her profe...

The Heir Apparent: A Life of Edward VII, the Playboy Prince by Jane Ridley My rating:  4 out of 5 stars One of the most readable 'Bertie...

The First Queen of England: The Myth of "Bloody Mary" by Linda Porter My rating:  4 out of 5 stars 'Bloody Mary' Tudor was...

The Lost Weekend by Charles Jackson My rating:  4 out of 5 stars This had me glued from the outset. I had seen the 1945 Billy Wilder movie, ...

Carol by Patricia Highsmith My rating:  5 out of 5 stars Much has been written about this novel's background and author in recent times,...

Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King by Antonia Fraser  My rating:  4 out of 5 stars While Antonia Fraser is perhaps my...

Tigers are Better-Looking: With a selection from The Left Bank by Jean Rhys My rating:  5 out of 5 stars No Jean Rhys fan would want to let ...

Ball of Fire: The Tumultuous Life and Comic Art of Lucille Ball by Stefan Kanfer My rating: 4 out of 5 stars TV comedy mostly irritates me, ...

Elizabeth's Spymaster: Francis Walsingham and the Secret War That Saved England by Robert Hutchinson My rating:  4 out of 5 stars The ic...

Brass Diva: The Life and Legends of Ethel Merman by Caryl Flinn My rating:  4 out of 5 stars It was when I heard an old industry anecdote th...

Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland by Gerald Clarke My rating:  4 out of 5 stars As irresistible as its subject, this fine biography had me...

Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart  by John Guy My rating:  5 out of 5 stars An essential element of any historical biographer...