Ingeniously conceived and brilliantly rendered, and set against the backdrop of the California Gold Rush, "The Wreck of the Golden Mary" is a masterpiece of Victorian storytelling. En route to making their fortunes, the passengers of the Golden Mary suffer a terrifying ordeal when their vessel collides with an iceberg. Now the helpless victims of a shipwreck, they turn to the restorative powers of storytelling in a desperate attempt to raise morale. As each takes their turn, from the captain to the first mate, the Dickensian figures of miser and murderer, orphan and ghost, are brought onboard...

This is the fullest biography yet on the actor who brought to life such characters as the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Henry VIII and Captain Bligh and whose career spanned 50 films and 40 stage roles. Callow is himself a much admired actor and author.

This is an examination of "The Night of the Hunter," Charles Laughton's only outing as a film director. It looks at the symbolism of the piece, at Willa, her throat cut sitting in the Model-T Ford, and the Preacher, a silhouetted threat on the horizon.

Now in paperback Winner of the Sheridan Morley Prize for Theatre Biography. An alternative autobiography of the well-loved actor and man of the theater. In My Life in Pieces Simon Callow retraces his life through the multifarious performers, writers, productions, and events that have left their indelible mark on him.

An epic survey of Orson Welles' life and work. It shows what it was like to be around Welles, and, what it was like to be him, in which lies the answer to the old riddle: whatever happened to Orson Welles?