Rachel Redford

Portrait of Pepys, after John Hayls. The Diary for 17 March 1666 reads: ‘This day I begin to sit [for Hayls], and he will make me, I think, a very fine picture.... I sit to have it full of shadows, and do almost break my neck looking over my shoulder to make the posture for him to work by.’

The joy of an unexpurgated Pepys — without the bother of reading it oneself

22 August 2015 9:00 am

We all know about Samuel Pepys witnessing the Great Fire in his Diaries, but how many have read the definitive…

An epic performance that brings a lost novelist back to life

11 October 2014 9:00 am

Hugh Walpole, now almost forgotten, was a literary giant. Descended from the younger brother of the 18th-century prime minister Robert…

Granta Best of Young British Novelists 4 - a review

20 July 2013 9:00 am

This year marks the fourth Granta ‘Best of Young British novelists’, begun in 1983, but it is the first time…