Author:Peter Everett

Alfred Wallis was born in 1855 and died in a workhouse in Cornwall in 1942. A fisherman, sailing from Newlyn, Mousehole and St Ives, he began to paint in the 1920s - strange, brilliant pictures of ships and the sea. In 1928 he was discovered in St Ives by Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood and for the rest of his life, alone in his tiny cottage, attacked by periods of madness, he painted furiously. In MATISSE'S WAR, Peter Everett explored the psyche of one of the most celebrated painters of our age. Here he performs a similar feat for another artist, one who knew no fame in his lifetime but whose paintings have found vast popularity since his death.
'Under the heat and the hammering of bombs, Rinaldi paints the essence of the Second World War in exciting miniature'
—— David Hughes , Mail on Sunday'Much to enjoy...Rinaldi has tremendous fun evoking the rich cultural pudding that was Malta in 1942, its weird combination of superstition, fatalism and grafted-on anglophilia, of ricotta and stiff upper lip'
—— Patrick Gale , Daily Telegraph'Funny, romantic, disturbing...A marvellous tapestry of war...Moving and satisfying'
—— The New York Times'A beguiling, romantic story in an illuminating and surprising setting'
—— Joseph HellerThis is Elton at his best - mature, humane, and still a laugh a minute. At least
—— Daily TelegraphOnly Ben Elton could combine uncomfortable questions about gender politics with a gripping, page-turning narrative and jokes that make you laugh out loud
—— Tony ParsonsA very funny book about a sensitive subject ... Ben Elton the writer might even be funniter than Ben Elton the comic
—— Daily MailThe selections from the greats are generous and well chosen
—— Guardian






