Anita Brookner, at 80, knew that, were any biographer to delve too deeply into her private affairs, her literature would be ruined. The work was one thing, matters of the heart quite another. In both of her distinguished careers, first as an art historian, then as a so-called ‘lady novelist’, she had found it advisable

This exhaustive biography of the Booker winner brings her properly out of the shadows for the first time

Anita Brookner, at 80, knew that, were any biographer to delve too deeply into her private affairs, her literature would be ruined. The work was one thing, matters of the heart…