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Weidenfeld and Nicolson: Hardback, £30; paperback, £14.99; eBook, £12.99; audio, £25
Order: Amazon; Waterstones; Hive (supporting independent bookshops); Audible (audio) The voice, the dressing-gown, the cigarette in its holder, remain unmistakeable. These were props and costumes for a series of parts that Noël Coward performed to perfection: idiosyncratic actor, wealthy playboy, wartime patriot, and national treasure. Above all he was a writer and composer, of immortal comedies and classic songs. Rarely a week passes when Private Lives, Hay Fever, or Blithe Spirit is not in production; phrases from his lyrics – “Mad About the Boy”, “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” – are in the public consciousness. Oliver Soden’s sparkling and inventive biography, the first in nearly thirty years, digs beneath the legend, revealing a man both witty and grave, passionate and disenchanted. Granted exclusive and unrestricted access to Coward’s unpublished diaries and correspondence, Soden has delved into private and governmental archives to narrate in more detail than ever before Coward’s hair-raising espionage career – and his tumultuous, necessarily secret, love affairs. Equally at home in words and music, and with a wit and style worthy of his subject, Soden offers fresh readings of plays both familiar and forgotten, proving that Coward was not simply a “talent to amuse” but a daring and radical figure, who unveiled painful, paradoxical truths about love, class, and sexuality. As T.S. Eliot wrote in 1954: “there are things you can learn from Noël Coward that you won’t learn from Shakespeare”. |
"Masquerade is a testimony to Soden's position |
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" ***** ... combines industriousness with stylistic flair... Unusually for a biographer Soden is also a thoughtful critic... What a pleasure it is to read a book into which so much labour, and so much affection, have evidently gone. But the labour is never flaunted and the affection is mingled with the same sophisticated irony that made Coward such a giant of the theatre. This is the biography – truthful, sympathetic and thorough – that Coward deserves."
Nishil Krishnan, Daily Telegraph Book of the Week "Oliver Soden's brilliant study paints a sumptuously full portrait of man and work alike", Daily Telegraph Summer Reads "...assiduous, even-handed, readable... [with] several astute summaries of Coward's work." Dominic Maxwell, The Times Book of the Week "Resplendent... a pleasure to read, not just for Oliver Soden's splendid survey of Coward's life, but also for the rhythm and tempo of his writing as he parries with his mercurial subject... At last the character of Noel Coward makes sense." Sarah Gabriel, The Critic "Splendid... I [cannot] immediately think of another book that captures 1920s Britain as memorably as this one does ... a book that's fully worthy of its subject ... contains a good deal of new information ... Soden's elegant prose, his incisive analyses of Coward's works, and his grasp of his subject's complexities add up to a rich, entertaining portrait of a man whom we come away feeling that we know - and like - more than ever." Bruce Bawer, New Criterion "It's a testament to Oliver Soden's intriguingly constructed book that, despite its length, I was always eager for more... Sympathetic but not sycophantic, Soden gets behind Coward's many masks." Christina Hardyment, The Times, Audiobook of the Week "A brilliant new biography" Christopher Wilson, Daily Express "Soden finds in Coward's plays a seriousness that their original audiences failed to see... return to his work after reading Mr Soden's illuminating biography, and it is striking how often his sparkling wit seems shadowed by despair." Economist |
"The tension between display and concealment is a central motif of this lively, affectionate but by no means adoring biography... makes a sound case for reappraising [Coward]... Soden's handsome book pays a tribute to the man - as playwright, director, composer, lyricist and wag - that will be good for another fifty years."
Anthony Quinn, Observer Book of the Week "Soden has both the research chops and the flights of fancy... a captivating biography by an emerging literary star." Kate Maltby, Financial Times "An excellent new biography... reveals Coward to be a more complex individual than we had acknowledged." Michael Billington, Guardian "Magisterial... absolutely riveting... digs so very perceptively." Libby Purves, Times Radio "Masterly... surely the definitive word on that complex, brilliant man" Alexander Larman, Books of the Year, Spectator World "[Coward's] life and character are superbly conveyed ... sparkling and astute... highly readable.... the most satisfying appraisal of the film Brief Encounter I've ever read... Inspired." Ysenda Maxtone Graham, Daily Mail, Best Biographies 2023 "A far more complex Coward than we have seen before... this is a highly illuminating book that makes us reconsider Coward... Soden has unearthed valuable material." Michael Billington, Country Life "Soden's achievement in this bold and ambitious book is to have captured Coward's personality in all its curious aspects, especially his need for disguise..." Paul Bailey, The Oldie "Oliver Soden doesn’t make simplistic deductions about Coward’s life and character from his work but, as he points out, the plays contain many direct statements on questions about which later commentators have claimed to be puzzled... It’s one of the strengths of his study that while keeping its subject in close focus, telling as much of his story as possible in Coward’s own words and those of his friends from diaries, correspondence and interviews, it sets him in historic context... It is a tribute to Soden’s biography that Coward remains to a degree enigmatic." Rosemary Hill, London Review of Books AUSTRALIA "There is so much to admire, so much new material to absorb… Coward’s work ethic, his ready wit, and the changing societal values leap from every page…. Soden has risen masterfully to the challenge." Paul Kildea, Australian Book Review "Occasionally, Soden allows the people in Coward’s life to speak to each other in pages of pure dialogue (the author stresses that the words are quoted verbatim, even if their context is new), and in the book’s final section, “A Late Play,” there is an extended discussion of their subject by Coward’s biographers, Soden included. The whole approach is arch, no doubt about it, but it works surprisingly well." Andrew Ford, Inside Story "The latest, and undoubtedly best biographer of Coward ... comes closest to removing Coward’s public masks... Soden superbly documents Coward’s personal “zig-zag” throughout the “alternately permissive and intolerant” decades of the 20th century ... a sympathetic and revealing biography." Colin Steele, Canberra City News |
"A sympathetic and very touching biography. Soden makes the daring decision to write occasional sections in imitation of Coward's style. Not every biographer would be up to this, but Soden pulls it off. The ending is particularly good - first skating around Coward's last days, letting him evaporate like Elvira, then giving us a chorus of biographers, boyfriends and household servants to narrate it in detail. But the whole book is beautifully done, and will last ... Coward will last forever and this excellent biography is just what he deserves."
Philip Hensher, Spectator "As clever and as playful as Coward himself" Prospect, Books of the Year "Soden's verve and way of handling the subject completely breathes new life into it... an absolutely extraordinary story" Marina Hyde, The Rest is Entertainment "Magisterial ... revelatory... Mixing daring formal innovation with wit that its subject would have purred at, this is surely the definitive life of Coward." Alexander Larman, Observer "If anyone else has plans to write a biography of Noël Coward, they can give up now. Oliver Soden’s magisterial work, weighing in at 634 pages, is undoubtedly definitive... lively, comprehensive and satisfying." Philip Fisher, British Theatre Guide "Soden divides his life – or “lives” – of Noël Coward into nine parts... some passages are in dialogue, and he ends with a section written as a play script... From less gifted writers this would be whimsical, maddening, but here it allows the reader to drift into a Noëlscape, where he is multiple, and infinite... Soden's life feels definitive" Tanya Gold, New Statesman "Excellent... contains revelations from Coward’s unpublished diaries and correspondence [...and] adroitly pieces together Coward’s activities during the Second World War." Martin Chilton, The Independent "It is a pity that Soden was not dissuaded from presenting some of its chapters as though they were plays, complete with cast-lists and dialogue... they come across as arch and self-indulgent... That said, Soden writes extremely well about Coward’s professional and private life, and provides many astute biographical and technical analyses of the plays and songs. His book is pacily written and often very amusing, sensibly declining to take Coward at his own estimation while at the same time making a case for him as leading figure in twentieth-century theatre." Peter Parker, Times Literary Supplement |
