Publications
Rudyard Kipling, by Andrew Lycett, published 1999 (viii + 659 pp., London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, ISBN-10: 0297819070 & ISBN-13: 9780297819073) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
Conan Doyle: The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes, by Andrew Lycett, published 1 November 2008 (xi + 527 pp. + 24 pp. of plates, London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, ISBN-10: 0297848526 & ISBN-13: 9780297848523) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
Abstract:Though Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's name is recognised the world over, for decades he was overshadowed by his creation, Sherlock Holmes - one of literature's most enduring characters.
Conan Doyle was a man of many contradictions. Romantic, energetic, idealistic and upstanding, he could also be selfish and foolhardy. Lycett assembles the many threads of Conan Doyle's life, including the lasting impact of his domineering mother and his alcoholic father; his affair with a younger woman while his wife lay dying; and his fanatical pursuit of scientific data to prove and explain various supernatural phenomena.
Lycett combines access to new material with assiduous research and penetrating insight to offer the most comprehensive, lucid and sympathetic portrait yet of Conan Doyle's personal journey from student to doctor, from world-famous author to ardent spiritualist.
Conan Doyle was a man of many contradictions. Romantic, energetic, idealistic and upstanding, he could also be selfish and foolhardy. Lycett assembles the many threads of Conan Doyle's life, including the lasting impact of his domineering mother and his alcoholic father; his affair with a younger woman while his wife lay dying; and his fanatical pursuit of scientific data to prove and explain various supernatural phenomena.
Lycett combines access to new material with assiduous research and penetrating insight to offer the most comprehensive, lucid and sympathetic portrait yet of Conan Doyle's personal journey from student to doctor, from world-famous author to ardent spiritualist.
Kipling Abroad: Traffics and Discoveries from Burma to Brazil, by Andrew Lycett, published 30 October 2009 (256 pp., London: I. B. Taurus & Co. Ltd., ISBN-10: 1848850727 & ISBN-13: 9781848850729) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
Abstract:Rudyard Kipling is the doyen of travel writers. His genius for evoking the sights, sounds and atmosphere of a place was crystallised in his fiction, in which he introduced Victorian readers to the drama and exoticism of the East. The teaming, dusty Grand Trunk Road springs to life off the pages of Kim, while the misty heights of imperial Simla provide an identifiable and almost tangible physical background to Plain Tales from the Hills. Kipling's poetry, journalism and letters also encapsulated the spirit of the places he visited, from Egypt, India and Brazil to the United States and Southern Africa. He was fascinated by the practicalities and potential of travel, the people encountered and experiences had. At a time when tourism was in its infancy, he prophetically reflected on the effects of mass transport and the 'globe trotters' who thronged to India. With his darting, universal mind, he was the first person to understand the relationship between travel and globalisation. 'Kipling Abroad' gathers together some of the most descriptive and revealing of his travel writing, which has never before been published in one volume. Introduced and edited by Andrew Lycett, author of an acclaimed biography of Kipling, it captures the range, curiosity and sheer talent of one of our best loved authors, revealing as much about Kipling himself as it does about the places he visited.
Rudyard Kipling, by Andrew Lycett, published 12 November 2015 (928 pp., London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, ISBN-10: 1474602983 & ISBN-13: 9781474602983) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries
Abstract:Paragon of English virtues or racist imperialist? Andrew Lycett has returned to primary sources to tell the intricate story of a misunderstood genius who became Britain's most famous and highest earning author. Among the many new sources, Lycett has discovered previously unpublished letters that illuminate Kipling's crucial years in India, his first girlfriend (the model for Mrs Hauksbee of Plain Tales from the Hills), his parents' decision to send him back to England to boarding school; and in his adult life his use of opium, his frustrating times in London and the brief peace he found in America before the devastating loss of both his young daughter and, in the First World War, his son.
Lycett also uncovers the extraordinary story of Kipling's great love for Flo Garrard, daughter of the crown jeweller, and unravels the complicated yet enthralling saga of the American family the Balestiers, and of Carrie Balestier who became Kipling's wife. This biography is full of new material on Kipling's financial dealings with Lord Beaverbrook, his friendships with T.E. Lawrence, the painter Edward Burne-Jones and the Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin (who was his cousin).
Lycett also uncovers the extraordinary story of Kipling's great love for Flo Garrard, daughter of the crown jeweller, and unravels the complicated yet enthralling saga of the American family the Balestiers, and of Carrie Balestier who became Kipling's wife. This biography is full of new material on Kipling's financial dealings with Lord Beaverbrook, his friendships with T.E. Lawrence, the painter Edward Burne-Jones and the Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin (who was his cousin).