Ariel: A Literary Life of Jan Morris by Derek Johns (Review)
Review for The Times, October 2016
Although this is not an authorised biography, it can’t exactly be described as an unauthorised one. Its subject, Jan Morris, gave several interviews for it, made material available, including the drawings that illustrate it, and read it before publication. There is also the small matter of the author, Derek Johns, having been her literary agent for 20 years.
Perhaps inevitably, then, the air around it can seem heavy with compromise, and this is Read more [...]