Jerome Boyd Maunsell

Jerome Boyd Maunsell is a writer and critic based in London. His first book was a short biography of Susan Sontag, published by Reaktion in 2014, and his essays have also appeared, among other publications, in frieze and the Times Literary Supplement. He received his BA from St Catherine's College, Oxford, his MA from UCL, and his PhD from King's College London. He was a Research Fellow in the Centre for Life-Writing Research at King's before taking up a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship in the Department of English and Creative Writing at Kingston University, London.

"Portraits from Life is a meticulously researched and thoroughly sourced book, presenting vivid portraits of its main (life) writing subjects in an accessible and engaging style. Despite their level of detail, its chapters are admirably concise and on-topic; they will undoubtedly entice many readers to seek out the largely forgotten autobiographical works by Conrad et al." - Dennis Kersten, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands, biography

"Thank heavens then for J. B. Maunsell's new study... which takes Wells seriously as an artist... [the] book is extremely well researched... Maunsell sets out his case with an extensive and deep knowledge of his subjects. Anyone who is interested in the seven writers under discussion is likely to learn something of value from this probing but appreciative examination of their work." - Michael Sherborne, The Wellsian: The Journal of the HG Wells Society

"An overtly compelling read that endeavours to divulge the difficulties and possibilities of autobiography." - David Marx: Book Reviews

"Beautiful, interesting, and attracting. These ones are the words for describing Portraits from Life Modernist, Novelists and Autobiography by Jerome Boyd Mansell... an enchanting book about modern novelists and their personal relationship with biography and auto-biography." - Anna Maria Polidori, Alfemminile

"A unique angle of approach." - Charlotte Jones, Times Higher Education