Současný britský spisovatel Peter Ackroyd (*1949) se inspiroval životním příběhem Oscara Wilda (1854-1900) a ve formě fiktivní autobiografie napsal Wildeův životopis, jehož mottem by mohl být Wildeův proslulý výrok Odolám všemu s výjimkou pokušení!. Oscar Wilde si deník píše v pařížském hotelu d´Alsace během několika posledních měsíců života. Deníkové zápisy zahrnují dobu od 9. srpna do 30. listopadu 1900. Wilde tu přehlíží celý svůj život, přemýšlí o svém díle, jež mělo tak oslnivý úspěch, i o vztazích k mužům, jež ho dovedly...

From the author of the bestselling London: The Biography, a poetic and powerful urban history of life and legend beneath London.

This is a wonderful, atmospheric, historical, imaginative, oozing little study of verything that goes on under London, from original springs and streams and Roman amphitheatres to Victorian sewers and gang hide-outs. The depth below is hot, much warmer than the surface and this book tunnels down through the geological layers, meeting the creatures that dwell in darkness, real and fictional -- rats and eels, monsters and ghosts.

There is a bronze-age...

This third volume in Peter Ackroyd's series is a companion volume to 'Chaucer' and 'Turner'. It describes the life of Sir Isaac Newton who formulated calculus, hit upon the idea of gravity and did experiments which showed that white light was made up of different coloured rays.

Ackroyd at his best -- gripping short life of the extraordinary Wilkie Collins, author of The Moonstone and The Woman in White.

Short and oddly built, with a head too big for his body, extremely short-sighted, unable to stay still, dressed in colourful clothes, 'as if playing a certain part in the great general drama of life' Wilkie Collins looked distinctily strange. But he was none the less a charmer, befriended by the great, loved by children, irresistibly attractive to women -- and avidly read by generations of readers.
Ackroyd follows his hero, 'the...

An enormously enjoyable spooky collection of ghost-sightings over the centuries, full of the spirit of place, in true Ackroyd style.
The English, Peter Ackroyd tells us in this fascinating collection, see more ghosts than any other nation. Each region has its own particular spirits, from the Celtic ghosts of Cornwall to the dobies and boggarts of the north. Some speak and some are silent, some smell of old leather, others of fragrant thyme. From medieval times to today stories have been told and apparitions seen -- ghosts who avenge injustice, souls who long for peace, spooks who just...

Edgar Allan Poe's life (1809--1849) was gothic, mysterious, theatrical and fatally flawed -- in short, an ideal subject for one of Peter Ackroyd's brilliantly concise, dramatic and immensely readable biographies.
Edgar Allan Poe has been claimed as the forerunner of modern fantasy, and credited with the invention of psychological dramas (long before Freud), science fiction (before H.G. Wells and Jules Verne), and the detective story (before Arthur Conan Doyle), as well as influencing European Symbolism and Surrealism.
Peter Ackroyd's biography of Poe opens with his end, his final days...

Displaying the same qualities as London: The Biography scholarship, wit, anecdotes, spirit of place, narrative and character this hugely enjoyable book will be another mammoth bestseller.
Thames: Sacred River is a history of the river from source to sea from prehistoric times to the present. It covers the flora and fauna of the river, paintings and photographs inspired by the Thames, its geology, smells and colours, its literature, laws and landscape, its magic and myths, architecture, trade and weather.
The reader learns about the fishes that swim in the river and the boats that ply...

Peter Ackroyd at his most magical and magisterial -- a glittering, evocative, fascinating, story-filled portrait of Venice.

In this sumptuous vision of Venice, Peter Ackroyd turns his unparalleled skill at evoking place from London and the River Thames, to Italy and the city of myth, mystery and beauty, set like a jewel in its glistening lagoon. His account is at once romantic and packed with facts, conjuring up the atmosphere of the canals, bridges and sunlit squares, the churches and the markets, the fiestas and the flowers. He leads us through the history of the city, from the first...

"Dickens" was a landmark biography when first published in 1990. This specially edited shorter edition takes the reader into the life of one of the world's greatest writers. It is published to tie-in with a 3-part BBC-TV series on Dickens with Peter Ackroyd, part drama (based on Ackroyd's Simon Callow play), part documentary, part biography.

Features the stories ranging from Beowulf to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, via Chaucer and Shakespeare, to the Bronte sisters, 'Alice through the Looking Glass' and 'Lord of the Rings'. This work takes the reader from medieval mystery plays to music hall and pantomime; painting; and music, with Purcell and Vaughan Williams.