Anny

'Writing about themselves has always been a forte of the dynastically intertwined Thackerays, Stephens and Woolfs. Henrietta Garnett's book is a valuable addition to that corpus of elegant self-regard.'

John Sutherland, Times Literary Supplement

'An engaging portrait of Anny, together with a very spiritual, and unexpectedly funny, account of her mid-to-late Victorian world.'

Frances Spalding, Literary Review

'Henrietta Garnett is the great-granddaughter of Leslie Stephen, and her book about Anny reads like an intimate family history. Pen sketches from the letters of Anny, Minny, their father and Leslie Stephen pepper the text, enhancing the sense that you are rummaging through a box of family papers searching for the truth about a favourite great-aunt.'

Kate Chisholm, Spectator

'Full of good stories and piquant asides.'

Isabel Quigly, The Oldie

'Anny Ritchie was such an engaging character that it is for herself, as much as for her connections to more famous writers, that she is to be valued.'

Hermione Lee, Guardian

'It is one of the many pleasures of this original biography that it makes Anny matter without trying to persuade us that hers is an unjustly neglected talent...An enchanting book.'

Claudia FitzHerbert, Daily Telegraph

'An intensely sympathetic and well-researched portrait of Anny, the circles in which she moved and the mental world in which her novels took root.'

D J Taylor, Sunday Times

'Descended from the family network, Henrietta Garnett is a sympathetic chronicler who engagingly conjures Anny's character in a breathless narrative.'

Jan Marsh, Independent