How to Live

With this splendidly conceived and exquisitely written double biography - of both Montaigne the man and Montaigne the book - Sarah Bakewell should persuade another generation to fall in love with Montaigne * Sunday Times *How to live is a superb, spirited introduction to the master, and should have its readers rushing straight to the essays themselves – Adam Thorpe * Guardian *Sarah Bakewell has written a marvellously confident and clear introduction to Montaigne…a rare achievement. Sarah Bakewell deserves congratulations for opening Montaigne to new readers so very appealingly * Evening Standard *Illuminating and humane book… It’s rare to come across a biographer who remains so deliciously fond of her subject… How to Live will delight and illuminate * Independent *Bakewell writes with verve. This is an intellectually lively treatment of a Renaissance giant and his world * Daily Telegraph *

Sarah Bakewell had a wandering childhood, growing up on the “hippie trail” through Asia and in Australia. She studied philosophy at the University of Essex, and worked for many years as a curator of early printed books at the Wellcome Library, London, before becoming a full-time writer. Her books include How to Live- a life of Montaigne, which won the Duff Cooper Prize and the US National Book Critics Circle Prize, and At the Existentialist Cafe, a New York Times Ten Best Books of 2016. She was also among the winners of the 2018 Windham-Campbell Literature Prize. She still has a tendency to wander, but is mostly to be found either in London or in Italy with her wife and their family of dogs and chickens.