PositiveThe Irish TimesFor someone writing both a family history and a publishing one, Tony Faber deals fairly with the personalities, conflicts, failures and courageous decisions that shaped the firm. His format is fascinating. The book primarily consists of extracts from letters and memos composed on the run, snap literary judgements jotted down while its staff juggled the fraught financial intricacies of keeping the firm solvent ... one pleasure of this book is how these men (few female voices are heard), slowly growing old...rarely have time to consider how posterity will judge their decisions. They are too caught up with wartime paper shortages, bombs falling on Mrs Faber’s garage, battles with censorship...and keeping the show on the road. Filled with brilliant cameos, this is for anyone who wonders what publishers actually do all day.
