ROLAND PHILIPPS was a leading publisher for many years. A Spy Named Orphan, his first book, arose from lifelong connections to Donald Maclean and his story. It was shortlisted for the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize 2018, was a Daily Mail Book of the Year and received widespread critical acclaim. His second book, Victoire, was published by The Bodley Head in 2021.
Casement is the Odysseus of Roland Philipp's epic, Broken
Archangel, and Philipps is a worthy chronicler. It is a book of
meticulous sensitivity and research ... It is a model, in other
words, for how to write a biography of a gay person who lived
before widespread acceptance
*Daily Telegraph*
Philipps is sympathetic to his subject and a careful chronicler of
diplomatic and intelligence intrigues … he makes a persuasive case
that Casement was a fractured personality who embraced causes to
fill an emotional void
*Guardian*
[An] extraordinary biography … Philipps [is] an accomplished
biographer with a knack for getting under the skin of his subjects
… There’s a wonderful immediacy to this portrait, as if Casement
sits in the room with us, discussing his life, revealing his
secrets
*The Times*
Remarkable ... Broken Archangel is an exceptionally well researched
and psychologically shrewd portrait of his deeply lonely
idealist
*Irish Independent *Best Books of 2024**
The chief virtues of Broken Archangel are its compact size and
energetic narrative. For the stranger to Casement’s life, this is
the book to buy
*Times Literary Supplement*
[An] authoritative and impressively clear-sighted biography ... A
vivid and striking portrait of this deeply conflicted man
*Irish Independent*
Vivid and compelling
*Irish Times*
Meticulous and sympathetic ... [a] fine book
*Literary Review*
[A] well-researched and engagingly narrated biography … For those
looking for an accurate, fluidly written account of Casement in his
own era, this biography is easy to recommend … [his] treason trial
are ably transformed into a page-turning finale
*History Today*
Roland Philipps' calm, authoritative and sympathetic new account
surely comes close to being definitive
*The Tablet*
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