Paula Byrne: Difference between revisions
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'''Paula Byrne''', born in [[Birkenhead]] in 1967, is a [[United Kingdom|British]] author and biographer most famous for her bestseller ''Perdita: The Life of [[Mary Robinson (poet)|Mary Robinson]]''. Her debut book was the highly-acclaimed study of [[Jane Austen]], ''Jane Austen and the Theatre'', which was published in 2002 by Hambledon and reissued in paperback in 2007 by Continuum. Byrne has a [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] from the [[University of Liverpool]]. Before becoming an author, she taught in a school, college and university. |
'''Paula Byrne''', born in [[Birkenhead]] in 1967, is a [[United Kingdom|British]] author and biographer most famous for her bestseller ''Perdita: The Life of [[Mary Robinson (poet)|Mary Robinson]]'' and her "partial life" of [[Evelyn Waugh]]. Her debut book was the highly-acclaimed study of [[Jane Austen]], ''Jane Austen and the Theatre'', which was published in 2002 by Hambledon and reissued in paperback in 2007 by Continuum. Byrne has a [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] from the [[University of Liverpool]]. Before becoming an author, she taught in a school, college and university. |
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In 2005 her biography ''Perdita: The Life of Mary Robinson'' was featured on the [[Richard & Judy#Richard & Judy Book Club|Richard & Judy Book Club]] on [[Channel 4]]. |
In 2005 her biography ''Perdita: The Life of Mary Robinson'' was featured on the [[Richard & Judy#Richard & Judy Book Club|Richard & Judy Book Club]] on [[Channel 4]]. |
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Revision as of 20:17, 13 October 2009
Paula Byrne, born in Birkenhead in 1967, is a British author and biographer most famous for her bestseller Perdita: The Life of Mary Robinson and her "partial life" of Evelyn Waugh. Her debut book was the highly-acclaimed study of Jane Austen, Jane Austen and the Theatre, which was published in 2002 by Hambledon and reissued in paperback in 2007 by Continuum. Byrne has a PhD from the University of Liverpool. Before becoming an author, she taught in a school, college and university.
In 2005 her biography Perdita: The Life of Mary Robinson was featured on the Richard & Judy Book Club on Channel 4.
Her book Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead was published by HarperPress in August 2009. An excerpt was published in the Sunday Times of August 9 under the headline Sex scandal behind Brideshead Revisited. It has to do with Lord Beauchamp William, 7th Earl of Beauchamp, who was the father of Waugh's friend Hugh Lygon. Its stated thesis is "that the exiled Lord Marchmain [a character in Brideshead Revisited] was a version of Boom [Lord Beauchamp] and Lady Marchmain of the Countess Beauchamp, that the dissolute Sebastian Flyte was Hugh and other Lygon siblings matched other roles." The book identifies other real-life bases for events and characters in Waugh's novel, though argues carefully against simple one-to-one correspondences, suggesting instead that Waugh combined people, places and events into composite inventions, subtle transmutations of life into fiction.
Byrne lives in a Warwickshire village near Stratford-upon-Avon and is married to the Shakespeare scholar Jonathan Bate with whom she has three young children.