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Robert Douglas-Fairhurst is a Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of Magdalen College. His books include Becoming Dickens- The Invention of a Novelist, which won the Duff Cooper Prize, and The Story of Alice- Lewis Carroll and the Secret History of Wonderland, which was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award, and The Turning Point- A Year that Changed Dickens and the World. He writes regularly for publications including The Times, Guardian, TLS and Spectator. Radio and television appearances include Start the Week and The Culture Show, and he has also acted as the historical consultant on TV adaptations of Jane Eyre, Emma, Great Expectations, the BBC drama series Dickensian, and the feature film Enola Holmes. In 2015 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Metamorphosis is the best book I have read about multiple sclerosis, and that is because it is about so much more... it is simply a beautiful piece of writing. * The Times * An outstanding feat of bravery and brio... [and a] riveting account of the metamorphosis he has endured... [a] buoyantly written, piercingly perceptive book. * Sunday Times * Heartening and unexpectedly gripping... an immensely powerful book... it persuasively builds the case for the ability of stories to offer hope and solace; to help us become ourselves, over and over, even in extremis. * Spectator * [Douglas-Fairhurst] has written a memoir that is not miserable. It's funny and raw... Magical: pages speed by, fuelled by the author's formidable intellect. * Financial Times, *Book of the Week* * While this book deals with distress, physical pain and uncertainty, its wry humour and lightness of touch make it anything but a misery memoir... superb. * Times Literary Supplement * A brilliant account of one man's tilted world following a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. * Observer * Level-headed and informative... What he [Douglas-Fairhurst] gives us isn't just the story of an illness but a story about the importance of stories. * Guardian * A pitch-perfect memoir: stylish, erudite, touchingly honest and darkly funny. -- Jacqueline Wilson, author of The Story of Tracy Beaker This is a beautiful and devastating portrayal of a life-changing diagnosis ... It is what the best writing should be: a book that will stay with you for life. -- Natalie Haynes, author of A Thousand Ships For all its grim subject the book is an unexpected delight. * Literary Review * Metamorphosis... is written by an entertaining storyteller and offers a rare insight into a situation that few people will have to face, but that it does us good to contemplate. * Mail on Sunday * A richly textured and syncopated book, alternately erudite and irreverent. * London Review of Books * A complex, tender meditation on art, family and resistance. -- Skinny
