The idea was to treat these well-known literary figures as if they were fictional characters, which may well be how all writers, whether famous or obscure, would secretly like to be treated. From Rudyard Kipling to James Joyce; Emily Bronte to Vernon Lee; and Henry James to Joseph Conrad, Javier Marias revisits the lives of some of the most eminent writers of all time. Looking at them through some peculiar detail of their lives, Marias provides a lively and illuminating insight into personalities about which we thought we knew everything. Told with affection and humour, these brief 'written lives' throw a refreshing and very human light on authors who are often enshrined (or entombed) within the halo of artistic sainthood.