The Observer: A captivating triumph
“[M]agnificent…. I was captivated by every line.…This book digs deeply into the peat of [Bacon’s childhood].…[W]here [the authors] really triumph is in their sympathetic, psychologically convincing accounts of his love life.…This book’s great achievement is that it does not confuse flexibility in the matter of relationships with insincerity, nor ravenous desire with decadence. Bacon, you come to understand, was fundamentally serious and fundamentally loving.”
Rachel Cooke. “Francis Bacon: Revelations by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan review – a captivating triumph.” Observer Book of the Week, The Guardian, January 17, 2021.
Note: This review appeared in the print edition of The Observer and online at The Guardian.