Ann Wroe Books

The acclaimed biographer and obituarist for The Economist reflects on a career spent pursuing life and capturing it on the page. It is soul that I go looking for. Or, to put it another way, real life. 'She's a genius, I believe' HILARY MANTEL 'A masterful celebration' JOHN BANVILLE 'A rare and beautiful book' KAPKA KASSABOVA 'What is life?' asked the poet Shelley, and could not come up with an answer. Scientists, too, for all their understanding of how life manifests, thrives and evolves, have still not plumbed that fundamental question. Yet biographers and obituarists continue to corral lives in a few columns, or a few hundred pages, aware all the time how fleeting and elusive their subject is. In this dazzlingly original blend of memoir, biography, observation and poetry, Ann Wroe reflects on the art and impossibility of capturing life on the page. Through her experiences and those of others, through people she has known, studied or merely glimpsed in windows, she movingly explores what makes a life and how that life lingers after. Animated by Wroe's rare imagination, eye for the telling detail, and the wit, beauty and clarity of her writing, Lifescapes is a luminous, deeply personal answer to Shelley's question.

Focusing on the inner struggles of the poet, this biography delves into Percy Bysshe Shelley's quest for creativity and liberation. Ann Wroe explores Shelley's radical ideas and his desire to empower humanity, highlighting his revolutionary vision that aimed to shatter societal illusions and inspire true love and freedom. By centering on the emotional and spiritual journey rather than external events, Wroe presents a fresh and profound perspective on Shelley, revealing a deeply passionate individual driven by a transformative mission.

"The story of Perkin Warbeck is one of the most compelling mysteries of English history. A young man suddenly emmerged claiming to be Richard of York, the younger of the Princes in the Tower. As such, he tormented Henry vii fro eight years. He tried three times to invade England and behaved like a prince. Officially, however, he was proclaimed to be Perkin Warbeck, the son of a Flemish boatman. A diplomatic pawn, he was used by the greatest European rulers of the age for their own purposes. All who dealt with him gave him the identity they wished him to have- either the Duke of York or a jumped up lad from Flanders. It is possible that he was neither. It is also possible that, by the end, even he did not really know who he was."

‘She’s a genius, I believe, because she lights up every subject she touches.’ Hilary Mantel A Spectator Book of the Year Goethe claimed to know what light was. Galileo and Einstein both confessed they didn’t. On the essential nature of light, and how it operates, the scientific jury is still out. There is still time, therefore, to listen to painters and poets on the subject. They, after all, spend their lives pursuing light and trying to tie it down. Six Facets of Light is a series of meditations on this most elusive and alluring feature of human life. Set mostly on the Downs and coastline of East Sussex, the most luminous part of England, it interweaves a walker’s experiences of light in Nature with the observations, jottings and thoughts of a dozen writers and painters – and some scientists – who have wrestled to define and understand light. From Hopkins to Turner, Coleridge to Whitman, Fra Angelico to Newton, Ravilious to Dante, the mystery of light is teased out and pondered on. Some of the results are surprising. By using mostly notebooks and sketchbooks, this book becomes a portrait of the transitoriness, randomness, swiftness, frustrations and quicksilver beauty that are the essence of light. It is a work to be enjoyed, pondered over, engaged with, provoked by; to be packed in the rucksack of every walker heading for the sea or the hills, or to be opened to bring that outside radiance within four dark town walls.

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • “Sublime . . . The definitive study of Pilate.”— The Washington Post Book World“Compelling, eloquent and vivid . . . In a superb blend of scholarship and creativity, Wroe brings this elusive yet pivotal figure to life.”— The Boston Globe One of Esquire ’s Best Biographies of All Time • Finalist for the Samuel Johnson Prize The foil to Jesus, the defiant antihero of the Easter story, mocking, skeptical Pilate is a historical figure who haunts our imagination. For some he is a saint, for others the embodiment of human weakness, an archetypal politician willing to sacrifice one man for the sake of stability. In this dazzlingly conceived biography, Ann Wroe brings man and myth to life. Working from classical sources, she reconstructs his origins and upbringing, his career in the military and life in Rome, his confrontation with Christ, and his long journey home. We catch glimpses of him pacing the marble floors in Caesarea, sharpening his stylus, getting dressed shortly before sunrise on the day that would seal his place in history. What were the pressures on Pilate that day? What did he really think of Jesus?  Pontius Pilate lets us see Christ's trial for the first time, in all its confusion, from the point of view of his executioner.