Facts and Fiction: A Book of Storytelling

A captivating collection of pieces about the art of narration by Britain’s finest biographer, Michael Holroyd

In Facts and Fiction, Michael Holroyd reflects on the eccentricities of the art of writing about others. With characteristic playfulness and guilefulness, he considers the ways in which lives can be written about (and painted), with all the subtle differences of design and intention that this entails.

From Rudyard Kipling to forgetfulness, the glories of Mary Norton’s Borrowers books to fellow biographers like Richard Holmes and Alexander Masters, Holroyd tackles an eclectic range of topics. He discusses his life at the mercy of subjects who have led him all over the world - and often into other people’s families uninvited. With wit, warmth and humour, he reflects on the unlikely ways he arrives at his subjects, and how the process of building their narratives is often a disturbing experience: so consuming that, when completed, he feels as if he has had a holiday from himself.

Facts and Fiction questions what we can know about ourselves and each other, and most importantly, how we can know it. It is a unique insight into the mind of a master.