If you've been following the blog over the past week or so, then you might be well aware of the impending launch of Simon Parke's new historical Novel The Soldier, the Gaoler, the Spy and Her Lover. We've hosted Simon's blogs about the Biography of the Book, and each character of this beguiling telling of a story that few people know. To get yourself in the mood for the book, why not get to know the titular characters? - The Soldier - The Gaoler - The Spy - The Lover Simon ha

Marylebone House author Kel Richards—just thinking out loud… The comic novel has been one of the most powerful (and delightful) strands in the whole story of the English novel. I remember laughing out loud the first time I read Jane Austen’s Emma. But brilliant though they are Austen and Dickens are almost late arrivals in the world of the comic novel. Long before they added sparkle Henry Fielding’s foundling Tom Jones was delighting readers and Laurence Stern in Tristram Sha