The Second Inheritance

There is no question of promise about him. He has arrived. His talent is formidable and is planted, I am convinced, in a deep earth from which he will draw even greater riches. The effect of the book is massive. Characterisations are loving, deep and perceptive. * Sunday Times *
This is a novel which has something to say and which says it well and truthfully. * Evening Standard *
Melvyn Bragg has created a world from his imagination which is highly charged and shot through with beauties which can reasonably be called poetic. * Scotsman *
A deep moody masterpiece of atmosphere and character * She *
Bragg has a very sure touch with his characters: they live’ * Anthony Burgess *

Melvyn Bragg was born in Wigton, Cumbria, in 1939. He went to the local Grammar School and then to Wadham College, Oxford. He joined the BBC in 1961, and published his first novel, For Want of a Nail, in 1965. He left the BBC and continued to write novels which include The Soldier’s Return (WH Smith Literary Award), Without a City Wall (Mail on Sunday John Llewellyn Rhys Prize) and Now Is the Time (Parliamentary Book Award 2016). A Place in England, Son of War and Crossing the Lines were all nominated for the Booker Prize. His non-fiction includes The Adventure of English and The Book of Books, and his first memoir, Back in the Day, was published in 2022 to critical acclaim. He edited and presented The South Bank Show from 1977 and hosted the BBC Radio 4 programme In Our Time from 1998. He has now retired from both. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society and of The British Academy. He was given a Peerage in 1998 and a Companion of Honour in 2017.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.