Second-Hand Stories by Josh Spero

Second-Hand Stories by Josh Spero

Every second-hand book tells two stories: one within its pages and another of the life it lived before changing hands. Whether mundane or extraordinary, on a grand scale or intensely personal, every second-hand book conceals the story of its past life. Lives filled with love, loss, scandal and conflict, these are the intimate and incredible stories that author Josh Spero uncovered after tracking down the previous owners of twelve of his second-hand books… Tom Dunbabin, a Classics scholar who became a spy, leading the resistance against the Germans in Crete in the Second World War. Peter Levi, a priest who fell in love with his friend’s wife. Belinda Dennis, a contrary Latin teacher, and Emilie Vleminckx, an equally contrary Latin student. And James Naylor, a boy the author once loved. Combined with stories from the author's own life – from growing up in London as a poor boy at a public school to becoming a scholar Oxford and later a tutor in Hampstead – and his lifelong love and pursuit of classical education, Second-Hand Stories is a unique memoir that celebrates not just one life, but all the lives connected through second-hand books. It will make you reconsider your own second-hand books, the people who owned them and what stories they have to tell.

"Bold and beguiling.. The theme may deal with the ancients, but the book, a memoir with a fictional sensibility, the different lives reading like a collection of short stories, feels very contemporary. One has to applaud Spero's bullishness in taking on such a subject – and his infectious persuasion that, far from being something dusty and arcane, the classics are as vividly relevant now as then and can be enjoyed by people from any kind of background." * Daily Mail *

Josh Spero has had a lifelong love of the Classics, reading Latin and Greek at Oxford. He has been the editor of Spear's magazine since 2010, covering everything from finance and philanthropy to art and luxury. He is also the art critic for Tatler.

Before Spear's he was at the Independent and has written for publications including the Guardian, The Times, the Sunday Times, and the Economist. He is a co-founder of theartsdesk.com – Britain's first critic-run arts review website – and has appeared on radio and TV around the world to discuss everything from finance to art.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781783521241
ISBN 10	1783521244
Title	Second-Hand Stories
Author	Josh Spero
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Unbound
Year published	2015-10-22
Number of pages	336
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable