http://telegraphuk.disqus.com/enTue, 16 Nov 2010 12:25:12 -0000http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/8117732/A-Book-of-Secrets-by-Michael-Holroyd-review.html#comment-97893033<p>It seems a pity that such a good biographer as Michael Holroyd should devote his last work to a subject that seems unworthy of him. Tittle-tattle, some of a rather salacious nature, about a series of obscure, or rather sad women, who were, as he himself says "of no importance" looks like an easy out, given the more momentous, but demanding, subjects on whom he previously researched and wrote very worthwhile and interesting biographies.</p><p>He describes the villa (Cimbrone) in Italy that Ernest Beckett created as a place of "make-believe". The millions of people that have visited it might dispute that, and it appears that in a book full of speculation, Michael Holroyd is himself providing the element of fantasy. We are told that he operates on the boundary between biography and fiction, perhaps he has strayed too much into the realms of fiction, in this, his last work.</p>abiographerTue, 16 Nov 2010 12:25:12 -0000