An ingeniously constructed, labyrinthine journey through myth, art, literature, history, archaeology and memoir, by the Baillie Gifford-shortlisted author
Charlotte Higgins's previous books include the acclaimed Under Another Sky- Journeys in Roman Britain, which was shortlisted for awards including the Samuel Johnson (now Baillie Gifford) Prize for non-fiction. She is chief culture writer of the Guardian, a past winner of the Classical Association prize, and a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. She lives in London.
Charlotte Higgins's Red Thread is a masterwork, an
open-eyed analysis of the everyday mazery we face without even
realising it, and an understanding of psychic and narrative
architecture that's a pretty crucial piece of equipment for
wherever and whenever we find ourselves lost. I read it on the
balcony of a hotel in Rome... and it was as if the city itself
opened playfully and thoughtfully around the reading experience in
its amalgam of pasts and presents, histories and mysteries.
Any bookshelf would be graced by the presence of [Red
Thread]... [it] ask[s] readers to surrender to the unpredictable
pleasures of getting lost... playful and gorgeously
written. -- Robert Douglas-Fairhurst * Guardian *
A serious, substantial, scholarly and yet also highly personal book
about mazes... Red Thread is a book to admire as much as to enjoy.
-- Ian Sansom * Spectator *
[Charlotte Higgins] is no ordinary author. Her
thrillingly original book - it really is like no other - is
itself a sort of maze of facts and thoughts, ancient tales and
modern phenomena... on every page there is a sparkling idea
or a fascinating piece of information. It is also
beautifully written... a beautifully produced volume,
full of colour illustrations of sculptures and paintings and
tantalising maps of mazes. -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday
*
In this beautifully produced and richly illustrated book...
Charlotte Higgins takes us on a fascinating meander through
the art and literature of the last 2,500 years... After reading
this book you will see labyrinths everywhere. -- Michael
O'Loughlin * Irish Times *
The joy of travelling with Higgins... [is that Red
Thread] delights in the blinking movement from one
subject to the next. In a few pages, we travel from
Middlemarch to Ovid, from Arachne to Velazquez and his
painting The Spinners and then back to George Eliot. It
sounds dizzying; in truth it is illuminating. -- Christian
Donlan * New Statesman *
This is a book to get gloriously lost in... It's a
lovely, wayward meander, combining memoir with
surprising historical facts, unexpected connections and
intriguing, imaginative speculations. * Psychologies *Book
of the Month* *
Higgins' range is admirably, enviably broad... there is no
shortage of visual pleasure in Red Thread. -- Tim
Smith-Laing * Daily Telegraph *
Charlotte Higgins' Red Thread is subtitled "On Mazes And
Labyrinths" but is much more than that. It takes a nimble
thinker to link the ancient stories of the Minotaur to
archeological fabrication in the Edwardian era and to Arnold
Bennett and the Potteries... [one] of the most interesting books
this year. -- Stuart Kelly * Scotsman, *Books of the Year*
*
Fascinating... enriching... very satisfying.
-- Jonathan McAloon * Financial Times *
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