Conan Doyle: The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes

Product Description Ground-breaking biography of the creator of fiction's best loved detectiveThough 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. Review "splendid, evocatively illustrated biography" SUNDAY TELEGRAPH "Comprehensive and authoritative, it is undoubtedly the best account of Doyle to date" SUNDAY TIMES "Lycett excels at the troubled context of of Doyle's times, caught first on the cusp and then on the charge of change" -- Ross Leckie TIMES "Packed with fascinating detail about Doyle's milieu, this engaging and perceptive account deserves to sell in vast quantities to the army of Holmes fans" -- Christopher Hirst INDEPENDENT "a massive work and Lycett has gathered much new material to produce a comprehensive, lucid and sympathetic portrait of a larger-than-life character" HUDDERSFIELD DAILY EXAMINER "deftly and sensitively treated by Lycett" GOOD BOOK GUIDE Book Description Ground-breaking biography of the creator of fiction's best loved detective About the Author Andrew Lycett was educated at Charterhouse and Christ Church, Oxford (where he read modern history). As a foreign reporter he specialised in Africa and the Middle East. A full-time author since the early 1990s, he has written a number of highly acclaimed biographies, among them RUDYARD KIPLING and CONAN DOYLE. He lives in north London.