Jeremy Lewis (1) (1942–2017)

Almost all readers must have a soft spot for Penguin Books. This is the story of Allen Lane, the founder and driving force of Penguin. It is written in a believable and pleasantly un-fawning manner. Lane is not made out to be a saint, or an unmitigated sinner.

Penguin was the first company, certainly in Britain, and arguably the World, to take paperback publishing seriously. This book takes one through the early days right through the various machinations to Lane's death and the takeover by show more Pearsons. Lane, as so often can be said, started out as a revolutionary and ended up as a stick in the mud. He seems to have found friendship difficult. People would be taken on, in both his private and his business life, with great enthusiasm, only to be ditched, unceremoniously at a later date. One story in the book is of a trip to Australia, where an arm of Penguin had been created. It was known that change was in the air and the three directors hung around Lane like limpets throughout the visit, but nothing was said. At the airport, when Lane was on his way home, he turned at the foot of the steps up to his iron bird and said, "You're out, you're in and you're out; and I'm off." Not the mark of a decent chap.

Lane's love life seems equally odd. He married Lettice, fell out of love, but kept her on a string, took a lover, cooled towards her and restored Lettice, although, they seem to have lead separate lives, together. He was equally undecided upon publishing appointments; seemingly getting worried once someone became a challenge but, disappointed if they did not.

Lane was a socialist, but tight with his money. When he wanted to put toilets into his original warehouse and office block, the visiting council employee walked away saying that if he were to admit to having visited, the firm would be shut down for breaching so many health and safety regulations: and this was in the days before PC!

In later years, the plotting at Penguin seems to have been more concerned with the covers - Penguin were launched with plain covers; two swathes of orange, green or blue (depending upon the series) with a cream centre stripe. The decision as to whether to follow the trend for picture covers became a fight that cost more than one person his job.

Lane's final slap in the face to anyone wishing to paint him as a nice person came with his will: he cut out both his wife and his daughters. How can this be the man who was as concerned to bring decent literature to the masses as he was to make money?

A good read, but another hero bites the dust. show less

This is a parallel biography of the two branches of the upper middle class Greene family. Graham Greene, the most famous one amongst them, had many siblings and cousins. Twelve Greenes in all. Age-wise, they were lucky in an unlucky era: Two young for the First World War, they were too old for the Second World War. The worst passed them by. The 1930s and 1940s were the crucial years of their lives. Apart from Graham Greene, writer and amateur spy, we meet one Greene as a doctor and Himalaya show more explorer, another as a German war correspondent and later BBC director general.

The Greenes produced weirdos too: One became a proto-Hippie in California, one a leftist turned fascist extremist and finally the black sheep of the family, a drunken traitor. Graham Greene's branch was much more successful than that of his cousins despite their initial financial advantage. Their German mother instilled German sympathies in them - which was not helpful during the 1930s and 1940s. One sister even married a German count and spent the Second World War in Germany. Overall, I found the story of Graham's sisters and brothers far more interesting than the rather weird lives of his cousins. In sum, it shows the global reach and small world of a well connected English family. The author's name-dropping of minor lights of British society at times is distracting. These shout-outs to his social circle must be of little relevance to most readers. The author also avoids all mention of Graham Greene's homo- or bisexuality. Given the standard account in most modern biographies, this "no sex, we are English" approach seems rather outdated and prissy. show less

A biography of Allen Lane, the founder of Penguin books.

Very interesting account of his life and how publishing changed in his lifetime, many of the changes brought about by Lane himself. As publishing goes through another upheaval with the advent of ebooks, it's good to look back at what happened when good quality paperbacks were introduced.

I was put off by the cad-ness of Allen Lane. But the review promising a nuts and bolts of the publishing industry in those days says I should read.

Astonishing how many copies per title were sold back when there were 20% as many people today and no internet.