Mark McKenna opens his 2011 biography of the Australian historian Manning Clark (1915-1991) with a beautiful section describing Clark’s voice. ‘His voice sounded the entire person.’ We read accounts of what Clark sounded like from different people who knew him, weaving snippets of quotes, ranging over his whole life. It’s such a wonderful way to introduce Clark, giving a sense of his character and some landmarks of his life. It shifts subtly into a discussion of his appearence and then onto his personality. It’s a brilliant opening chapter.
Another thing I love: the photographs are integrated into the text. They’re right next to the relevant text. I wanted this for my KSP biography but wasn’t allowed it, alas. I think I’ll try again next time!
Nathan Hobby, a biographer in Perth 
Yes, I like the idea of photos next to the text too, but if the trade-off is to have grey, grainy reproductions instead of good quality ones on photo paper, I prefer the way it’s done in your book. I just read a marvellous bio of Townsend of the Ranges by Peter Crowley, and while I loved the book which had the maps integrated beside the text, some of them were a bit hard to see properly.
LikeLiked by 1 person
They look pretty sharp in this one – maybe the high quality paper? But that was my editor’s thinking too.
LikeLike
Photos integrated throughout the text for the KSP bio would’ve been fantastic, Nathan!
Yes, try for the Curtin text. (I wanted my book covers for Discovering Katharine interspersed throughout, close to when Vicki began reading a text, but that got knocked back! Perhaps publishers aren’t keen on the idea?)
How’s Curtin going, BTW?
Cheers, Denise
LikeLike