William Shakespeare

"Sure. Peter Holland’s entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , which is now accessible online, is the best biography of Shakespeare you’ve never heard of. A book based on the entry is published by OUP in their Very Interesting People Series. If asked by anyone what biography of Shakespeare I would wholeheartedly recommend that has no fabrications, no romantic overtones, but just has the facts of the life and afterlife, it’s this one. Peter Holland is really judicious, really precise and tells the story in 38,000 words. And he writes like a dream. I should say that each one of the biographies I’ve chosen is beautifully written, and that’s one of the criteria that is important to me."