Bruce Anderson

A toast to Le Roi Jen Quinze

Why we need a new literary award: the antisocial book of the year

Labour politician and Chancellor of the Exchequer Mr Roy Jenkins, 1970 [Photo by Dennis Oulds/Central Press/Getty Images] 
issue 26 April 2014

There ought to be a new literary award: the antisocial book of the year. A dozen years ago, Claire Tomalin’s Pepys would have won the laurels by a country mile. That Christmas, everyone seemed to have been given a copy, and normally healthy eaters would arise from the lunch table after only three hours, desperate to return to Pepys.

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