Brian Moore

'The only wise prediction to make about a new Brian Moore novel is that it will be unpredictable and wise,' wrote Christopher Ricks reviewing "Black Robe", one of the twenty magnificent novels which put Brian Moore into the first rank of world writers. Northern Ireland may have shaped him, as he grew up one of nine children in a Catholic doctor's Belfast household, but World War II took him to Africa and war-ravaged Europe, and Canada freed him to become a writer. In 1955 he published "The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne", the first of many novels which led steadily to international critical acclaim. He was a writer's writer, baffling contemporaries with how he pulled off his literary feats. Patricia Craig, who began this authorised biography with the help and blessing of Brian Moore himself, and his wife Jean, pieces together the colourful life that lay behind the novels. She also reveals the droll, romantic, cant-hating, affable and brilliant man who so disarmingly enhanced twentieth-century letters.

'A crisp and intelligent account of a man and a writer for whom Craig's clean and incisive approach seems perfectly appropriate' Guardian 'A well-researched biography that eloquently traces the novelist's inspiration back to the Irish Catholic roots that shaped his identity' Independent 'Fascinating on the influences and events that fed Moore's creativity' Daily Mail 'If this honourable and generous biography keeps [Moore's] success alive and sends readers back to [his] novels, it will have achieved what he had wanted' Hermione Lee, TLS

Patricia Craig is an acclaimed anthologist and critic, whose works include the Oxford Books of Detective Stories, Modern Women's Stories, Travel Stories and Ireland; The Belfast Anthology; Elizabeth Bowen (in the Penguin "Lives of Modern Women" Series); and (with Mary Cadogan), You're A Brick, Angela! A New Look At Girls' Fiction 1839-1975. A regular contributor to the TLS and Independent, she was born in Belfast, lived in London for many years, and now lives in Co. Antrim, N. Ireland.