Best biographies of all time to add to your 2024 reading list

Biographies are a surprisingly controversial endeavour due to their posthumous nature.

While the family’s estate controls the intellectual property of their loved ones after their passing, it’s not exactly possible to get express permission from the likes of George Washington or The Brontë Sisters before conducting a deep dive into their personal lives.

Vastly different to autobiographies, whereby the author seeks to recollect their own personal history, biographies are written by a third party who, through years of academic study, has become a veritable expert in the field.

Thomas Hardy had his second wife, Florence, write his biography before anyone else could. Any remnants of Hardy’s journals and personal notes which hadn’t been destroyed, Florence promptly burned following his death. Poet and author Phillip Larkin followed suit and