RaveThe Financial Times (UK)...Janet Nelson has succeeded in delivering \'a new life\' of Charles. Her long-awaited biography invites us to understand the man in ways that are original and penetrating. She claims that \'more of Charles’s personality can be known than meets the eye\' and illustrates this by setting out in detail both the influences that shaped policy and practice, and anecdotes that illuminate intimate aspects of personality and character ... Rigorous assessments of difficult evidence are mixed with what feels like invitations to conversation. Their effect is to transport readers away from the eighth and ninth centuries to the 21st — and into quite a few others as well — demonstrating the effectiveness of biography as a means to understand a seemingly remote age, a subject on which Nelson reflects insightfully ... England and Britain were never part of Charles’ empire, and yet they were very much part of the Charlemagne and European stories. This magnificent book brings alive the man at their heart.
