The Secret Annexe by Alan Taylor
The Secret Annexe brings together (in their own words) the stories of the men and women who have endured wartime life. By turns horrific and comic, the entries retain the candid intimacy that is the particular preserve of the diarist. From the colourful band of contributors - Davy Crockett, Anne Frank, Josef Goebbels, Virginia Woolf, Che Guevara, Anais Nin, Florence Nightingale, Samuel Pepys and Salam Pax to name a few - Irene and Alan Taylor have forged an unprecedented insight into what has been described as 'the most exciting and dramatic thing in life' and 'the universal perversion': war.
The Assassin's Cloak was a treasury to return to at randomThe same can be said of The Secret Annexe. Smuggled in to this selection is the telling suggestion that, even in wartime, life goes on. War may be an inferno, but the human comedy prevails. * * Observer * *
The writers are mere flotsam on the tides of war. Their words are subjective, partial, personal, sometimes prejudiced, and occasionally mundane. But taken together and spanning centuries of warfare, they are the very stuff and substance of human experience. * * The Times * *
This is a wonderful anthology. Imaginatively compiled and thoroughly edited. The Taylors have a sharp eye for revealing detail and a sense of humour, so that the awesome and tragic are balanced by the humdrum and quirky. * * The Herald * *
A triumph in which the full range of human emotions associated with war is laid bare before us. -- Alexander McCall Smith
The writers are mere flotsam on the tides of war. Their words are subjective, partial, personal, sometimes prejudiced, and occasionally mundane. But taken together and spanning centuries of warfare, they are the very stuff and substance of human experience. * * The Times * *
This is a wonderful anthology. Imaginatively compiled and thoroughly edited. The Taylors have a sharp eye for revealing detail and a sense of humour, so that the awesome and tragic are balanced by the humdrum and quirky. * * The Herald * *
A triumph in which the full range of human emotions associated with war is laid bare before us. -- Alexander McCall Smith
Irene Taylor was born and brought up in Edinburgh. For many years she worked in public libraries. She has a degree in history from Edinburgh University and she now works for the National Trust for Scotland. Alan Taylor is a journalist and Literary Editor for the Sunday Herald. he is a regular contributor to a variety of publications and in an earlier incarnation was a reference librarian.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781841956701 |
| ISBN 10 | 1841956708 |
| Title | The Secret Annexe |
| Author | Alan Taylor |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Canongate Books |
| Year published | 2005-09-22 |
| Number of pages | 696 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |