3 February 2014
” … Scannell was the artistic cousin of Philip Larkin … They had similar principles – a thoughtful traditionalism about form, a commitment to giving a true account of emotion …”
Oxonian Review by Daniel Hitchens
12 December 2013
“… Taylor pulls no punches in his telling of this story… a first-rate biography; we finish it feeling we know its subject, saddened by his death, with a new appetite for his poetry …”
Spectator review by Wynn Wheldon
17 January 2014
“This excellent biography … inspires the reader to go back and look at all his poetry over again.”
What can I say? That quote is exactly what I was wanting from the day I started writing the book.
Oldie review by Virginia Ironside
15 December 2013
Well, it’s the Sunday Times. There you go. I’ve written about this review in my blog, The Writer’s Block - http://bit.ly/VSMaxHastings
Sunday Times review by Max Hastings
6 December 2013
“… A thrilling, action packed read – the sort of story biographers must dream about …”
Yorkshire Post review by Yvette Huddleston
27 November 2013
“…Splendid ground-breaking biography … cannot speak too highly of this book …”
Oxford Times review by Merryn Williams
27 October 2013
“… Excellent biography … compelling as a novel …”
Independent on Sunday review by Susan Elkin
25 October 2013
“… As specialists might say, we were shit-scared…”
Not a review exactly … but here’s a link to the Oxford University Press Blog, and a piece about Vernon Scannell and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Who says poetry isn’t relevant in today’s world?