Yet there are some flaws in her characterisation: she only mentions that Tradescant had no sense of smell a third of the way into the book; surely this explains his desire to procure all things that look outlandish instead of sweet-smelling flowers?
And let us not forget, as the book surely doesn't, "the man in the street".
KESWICK: Miscellanies and bedside books thrive at this time of the year and very useful they are too as presents - but a "Farmer's Bedside Book," surely this is something different?
Alex was a celebrity, and this book will surely please his legions of fans.
Regime change, readers of this book will surely agree, couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.
I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, but the Love who has written this book would surely regard that lyric as pretty "weird".
There's no thanks for advice on shaping the text itself, and readers of this book will surely wonder if Hollis, a writer as well as an editor, was allowed to do either.
Warmth and humour, it is obvious, are the two qualities exactly missing from this book, as surely as if they had been sliced out with an editor's razor-blade.
Indeed, much of the responsibility for the novel claims recorded in this book should surely rest with Falco, though it is Hockney whose celebrated name figures on the cover.
Other parts of our island story (for this book is surely the contemporary version of that great classic) are given room to breathe: the significance of the Thomas Becket tragedy is awarded what amounts to 1.5% of the book's entire narrative.
