Like many readers, I jumped immediately to the authors I recognised, especially my beloved. Second, by contrast, when Fowler does profile a worthy writer, his profiles are too short and frankly too vague to do much good. So this leans toward being an amusing insight into literary footnotes rather than a guide for even heavy-duty readers.
Many of these writers are, as another reviewer has stated, "nutjobs" of various kinds. At the same time, there are two grievances to note:įirst - and Fowler is upfront about this - there's a heavy emphasis on the deservedly forgotten. Fowler has dug into some unusual areas, especially in the short essays on broader themes that break up the biographical entries. In and of itself, that's a great idea, and this book certainly is a useful resource for those of us who live in the margins and niches of literary history. Hmm, this is fine, but I wish it could've been actually good.Īs the brief states, Fowler "profiles" 99 authors who have been quote-unquote forgotten, ranging from the deserved to the decidedly undeserved. It is for book lovers, and is written by one who could not be a more enthusiastic, enlightening and entertaining guide. This is a book about books and their authors. These 99 journeys are punctuated by 12 short essays about faded once-favourites: including the now-vanished novels Walt Disney brought to the screen, the contemporary rivals of Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie who did not stand the test of time, and the women who introduced us to psychological suspense many decades before it conquered the world. And Fowler, as well as remembering their careers, lifts the lid on their lives, and why they often stopped writing or disappeared from the public eye. Whether male or female, domestic or international, flash-in-the-pan or prolific, mega-seller or prize-winner - no author, it seems, can ever be fully immune from the fate of being forgotten. So begins Christopher Fowler's foray into the back catalogues and backstories of 99 authors who, once hugely popular, have all but disappeared from our shelves.
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