A work of vivid social and cultural commentary, it functions also as an in-depth study of artistic creation ... Its melodramatic subtitle aside, King’s is a book rich with quirky characters living under strange circumstances: eccentric royals, visionary benefactors, financial collapses, theatrical triumphs and career meltdowns, legal shenanigans worthy of Dickens’s.
A splendid writer ... A meticulous researcher ... Fine and vivid sentences ... Jennens’s story is indeed fascinating ... The form of King’s book is like an intricate collage, gathering very different characters with the goal of concentrating on the surround, the context.
