A New Biography

[zigfried]

I read somewhere that this year a new biography of JMB will be published.  Does anyone have any info on this?
Also, I read that a new publication of PETER PAN is to be published and it is to be annotated. Anyone know when these are going to hit the bookshelves?

[Robert Greenham]

The new biography to which I think you are referring is Hide-and-Seek with Angels: The Life of J. M. Barrie, written by Lisa Chaney, published by Hutchinson, hardback, 368 pages, ISBN 0091795397. According to Amazon.co.uk it will be available from May 19, 2005, RRP £20, their price £14. Find it on Amazon and there you will see a synopsis.

It is impossible to say, from the synopsis, whether this book will reveal anything new about JMB.

With no shame, I'll use this opportunity to plug my own modest little book, It Might Have Been Raining, which is essentially a small part of my grandmother's life story centred on the time she worked for JMB. It is not quite finished, probably not to be published but available privately through me, probably no ISBN, definitely not hardback, probably ready in April, probably about 100 pages, probably about £5.

My book is not another biography of Barrie. Rather it paints a detailed picture of life with the Barries as experienced at Black Lake Cottage, their summer home. It adds a little detail and colour to the published biographies of JMB.

[zigfried]

I promise you I will be VERY interested in reading your book.  Please let us know when it is available.

[Robert Greenham]

Thanks. I'll announce it on this forum and also on the Anon website. You may like to know that I have two portraits of Mary Ansell (an 1891 etching, and a photo from about 1911) which I plan to include in my book, and which I have not seen anywhere on the web. Information and pictures of Mary seem rather scarce. I plan to submit these to Andrew for use on this site once I've finished my book.