Spectator Reviewers

Books of the Year | 24 November 2007

A further selection of the best and worst books of the year, chosen by some of our regular contributors

issue 24 November 2007

William Trevor

Thomas Hardy: The Time-Torn Man by Claire Tomalin (Penguin, £8.99). This is a classic biography, gracefully written, driven by a perception that never falters. The contradictions and lingering mysteries in Hardy’s life, both as a man and a novelist, are investigated fruitfully but gently, without gratuitous or prurient curiosity.

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