The Simplon Road

‘Pearson and Boyle write frankly about themselves and their relationship with Stendhal, capturing the paradoxes of his writing: even as we feel we know him intimately, we miss him at every turn. They would not want it otherwise, because Pearson and Boyle are also writing about what it is to live literature.’ – Patrick McGuinness

‘Ann Pearson and Charles Boyle, though far from uncritical of this at times infuriating master of self-concealment, produce affectionate, highly personal and witty accounts of what Stendhal has meant for them, showing how his quizzical zest has been a constant, even obsessional source of inspiration in their own lives and works. They also highlight the 21st-century anxieties that gnaw away at even this most ebulliently self-reinventing of authors: money, identity, relationships, career and, of course, getting on (in every sense).’  – Andrew Brown, translator and biographer of Stendhal