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Essays
Jun 20, 2025 4:02 PM

Author:Plutarch,Ian Kidd,Robin Waterfield

Essays

One of the greatest essayists of the Graeco-Roman world, Plutarch (c. AD 46 -120) used an encyclopedic knowledge of the Roman Empire to produce a compelling and individual voice. In this superb selection from his writings, he offers personal insights into moral subjects that include the virtue of listening, the danger of flattery and the avoidance of anger, alongside more speculative essays on themes as diverse as God's slowness to punish man, the use of reason by supposedly 'irrational' animals and the death of his own daughter. Brilliantly informed, these essays offer a treasure-trove of ancient wisdom, myth and philosophy, and a powerful insight into a deeply intelligent man.

Reviews

Plaidy excels at blending history with romance and drama

—— New York Times

Plaidy, by the skilful blending of superb storytelling and meticulous attention to authenticity of detail and depth of charaterization has become one of the country's most widely read novelists.

—— The Sunday Times

Full-blooded, dramatic, exciting

—— The Obsever

One of England's foremost historical novelists

—— Birmingham Mail

It is hard to better Jean Plaidy . . . both elegant and exciting

—— Daily Mirror

'You'll be flipping pages so fast, the breeze will keep you cool on the beach'

—— New Woman

'Fast paced and funny...the perfect summer read'

—— 19

This is one that you won't want to miss - a wonderful debut novel

—— Armchair Interviews.com

Intelligent chick-lit ... This laugh-out-loud debut will captivate readers

—— Publishers Weekly

This debut novel is a fresh, thoroughly enjoyable read

—— Sarah Broadhurst

Wonderfully comic and touching

—— Sunday Telegraph

Interweaves a variety of thoroughly imagined life stories and predicaments with quiet, effective skill

—— Mail on Sunday

I have greater admiration for Margaret Forster than for most novelists. A very fine, continuously interesting, and often moving work, all the better because it is so firmly rooted in the ordinary world of everyday experience

—— Scotsman

Cadwalladr also captures the desperation at the heart of most good comedy. She maintains the tragicomic balance to the end and has the confidence to chose the right, realistic ending over the wrong, romantic one

—— The Observer/Review

A hilariously funny and moving chronical of three generations of the Monroe family told through the eyes of Rebecca in the 1970s. It is not just a habit of quoting proverbs and a recipe for sherry trifle that have passed down the maternal line. There's a habit of broken marriages, dubiously fathered children and untimely deaths.

—— Elite

Rebecca Monroe is really stumped when it comes to her family's behaviour. Why, on the day Charles and Camilla got married, did her mum lock herself in the loo and refuse to come out? Was it due to the collapse of her chocolate cake, or because Rebecca's grandmother ended up marrying her first cousin?

Pondering what it is that makes her clan click, Rebecca is determined to discover whether it is genes or fate that affects the different generations.

A fun little romp about the joys of family and the genes we inherit.

—— OK Met Stars

Touching and surprising...A moving account of the personal and social pressures that shape our childhood experiences and resonate throughout out lives

—— The Sunday Times

This exciting first novel by a talented writer is a moving exploration of family life in the twenty-first century...You won't want to put this book down

—— My Weekly

Hilariously funny and moving chronicle of three generations

—— Peterborough Evening News
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