"Warm and inclusive . . . Jenny Uglow's rich evocation of the past creates a lavish detailed background and illuminates the complex circumstances in which art is made. Her personal approach takes in the emotional lives of her subjects and their family connections." –Lindsay Duguid, The Times Literary Supplement
"A joy to read . . . Uglow is wonderful at conjuring up atmospheres – the poisonous gossip in Bury when the elopement became public, and the excitements of jazz-age London, with futurists, vorticists and surrealists spouting their manifestos, the new electric billboards lighting up Piccadilly Circus, packed proms at the Queen's Hall, and the extending tentacles of the London Underground." –John Carey,
The Times (UK) "Marvellous . . . Few historians write better about pictures than Uglow, and her commentaries make you look and look again at bright colour plates that deliver little shocks." –Norma Clarke,
Literary Review (UK)
