Paperback. White cover with black title. Fairy on front board.

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 A FROST PAPERBACK is a loved book which a member of the Frost family has checked for condition, cleanliness, completeness and readability. When the buyer collects their book, the delivery charge of £3.00 is not made

Phineas G. Nanson, a disenchanted graduate student, decides to immerse himself in the messiness of ‘real life’ by writing a biography of a great biographer. But a ‘whole life’ is hard to find. Everywhere he looks he discovers only fragments – strange notes, boxes of marbles, undated postcards.

As Phineas’s research continues, his mind roams from the deserts of Africa to the maelstroms of the Arctic. Along the way he meets others building wholes from bits and pieces – taxonomists, ecologists, even travel agents – and begins to puzzle out his future. But who will guide him from the labyrinth and back into his own life?

Review: Byatt herself calls this, ” A patchwork, echoing book” and like a patchwork, it is easy to sometimes lose the pattern, but I found that it was worth reading to the end, even though the protagonist (the biographer of the title) was a little irritating at times. The two female characters (Vera, blue-grey night person, and Fulla, golden ,electric day person ) are detailed and convincing, as are the two gay colleagues. There were times when I was impatient reading the index cards which are an essential and authentic part of the story as I wanted to get back to the action part of the plot. These could, in all fairness, be skimmed over at a first reading. If you enjoyed “Possession” then you will find parallels in “The Biographer’s Tale,” and certain cameos that share similarities. “Possession” is ultimately more satisfying as it has a stronger story-line and a more likeable male character, but both books show how astonishingly erudite Byatt is, and how patient in putting together all the clues without giving away a premature solution. This is not an easy read, but it did intrigue me and it seems to hold out the promise of “Read me again and you’ll find even more than you did before.”

A.S. Byatt (1936-2023) was a novelist, short-story writer and critic of international renown. Her novels include Possession (winner of the Booker Prize 1990), the Frederica Quartet and The Children’s Book, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. She was appointed CBE in 1990 and DBE in 1999, and was awarded the Erasmus Prize 2016 for her ‘inspiring contribution to life writing’ and the Pak Kyongni Prize 2017. In 2018 she received the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award.