Samuel Pepys: the unequalled self

Samuel Pepys is the astonishing biography by bestselling author Claire Tomalin 2002 WHITBREAD BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Immaculately well done.

Tomalin has managed to unearth a wealth of material about the uncharted life of Samuel Pepys' Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday 'Sex, drink, plague, fire, music, marital conflict, the fall of kings, corruption and courage in public life, wars, navies, public execution, incarceration in the Tower: Samuel Pepys's life is full of irresistible material, and Claire Tomalin seizes it with both hands.

Fast, vivid, accessible' Hermione Lee, Guardian 'A rich, thoughtful and deeply satisfying account.

It takes us behind and beyond the diary - which means that, on finishing it, we can reread the diary with greater pleasure and understanding then ever before' Noel Malcolm, Evening Standard 'In Claire Tomalin, Pepys has found the biographer he deserves.

Her perceptive, level-headed book finally restores to the life of the diarist its weight and dignity' Lisa Jardine, New Statesman 'A great achievement and a huge pleasure.

A vivid chronicle of contemporary history seen through the all too human preoccupations of this ordinary and extraordinary man' Diana Souhami, Independent From the acclaimed author of Charles Dickens: A Life and The Invisible Woman, this celebrated biography casts new light on the remarkable diaries of Pepys and brings his story vividly to life once more.

Claire Tomalin is the award-winning author of eight highly acclaimed biographies, including: The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft; Shelley and His World; Katherine Mansfield: A Secret Life; The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens; Mrs Jordan's Profession; Jane Austen: A Life; Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self; Thomas Hardy: The Time-Torn Man and, most recently, Charles Dickens: A Life.

A former literary editor of the New Statesman and the Sunday Times, she is married to the playwright and novelist Michael Frayn.