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Biography: literary, Prose: non-fiction
Ground-breaking biography of the creator of fiction's best loved detective
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.
More books by Andrew Lycett
Praise for Conan Doyle: The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes
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'Conan Doyle has found a biographer of distinction in Andrew Lycett' - GUARDIAN
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'[An] excellent biography. Comprehensive and authoritative, it is undoubtedly the best account of Doyle to date' - SUNDAY TIMES
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'In Andrew Lycett's hugely enjoyable new biography, the sheer breathtaking dynamism of the man shines through' - SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
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A compelling portrait ... This is a model biography: lucid, fair and unfailingly readable - MAIL ON SUNDAY
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Shrewd and thorough ... Entertaining - INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
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A serious piece of work by an experienced professional biographer ... Particularly good on the intellectual background to Doyle's work - ECONOMIST
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Lycett's sophisticated account reveals a character with light and shade - DAILY TELEGRAPH
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Lycett's book has the effect of moving Conan Doyle into our age - SCOTTISH REVIEW OF BOOKS
Andrew Lycett
Andrew Lycett was educated at Charterhouse and Christ Church, Oxford (where he read modern history). 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, among them RUDYARD KIPLING and CONAN DOYLE. He lives in north London.
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