Tab Article

Ratings: ★★★★☆ (4.2/5)
Genre: Biography, History, Philosophy, Non-Fiction

Book Review:
Daphne du Maurier is best known as a master of suspense, the author of haunting novels like Rebecca and Jamaica Inn. But she was also a gifted biographer, with a keen eye for character and a talent for bringing the past to life. In The Winding Stair, she turns her attention to one of the most fascinating and complex figures of the English Renaissance: Sir Francis Bacon.

Bacon was a man of many parts: a philosopher, a scientist, a lawyer, an essayist, and a politician. He rose to the highest office in the land, becoming Lord Chancellor under King James I, before being brought down by a bribery scandal that shattered his career and his reputation. He is remembered today for his groundbreaking work in developing the scientific method, for his witty and wise essays, and for his profound influence on the development of modern thought.

Du Maurier's aim, as she writes in her preface, was not to produce a scholarly work for academics, but to paint a vivid portrait of Bacon for the ''common reader.'' And she succeeds brilliantly. She traces his life from his childhood as the son of a powerful Elizabethan statesman, through his education at Cambridge, his early struggles to gain favor at court, his long and patient climb up the ''winding stair'' of power, and his ultimate triumph and tragic fall.

She brings to life the world he inhabited: the dangerous and glittering court of Queen Elizabeth I, the intellectual ferment of the age, and the political intrigues that could make or break a man's career. She explores his complex relationships with his powerful uncle, Lord Burghley, with the enigmatic Earl of Essex, and with the two monarchs he served. And she delves into his inner life, his ambitions, his disappointments, and his passions.

Du Maurier is a sympathetic but clear-eyed biographer. She does not shy away from Bacon's flaws—his ambition, his extravagance, his willingness to compromise his principles—but she also shows us his brilliance, his humanity, and his enduring legacy. Her prose is as engaging and suspenseful as in her novels, and she has a gift for making historical figures feel real and immediate.

The Winding Stair is a wonderful introduction to a remarkable man. It is a book that will appeal to anyone interested in history, in philosophy, or simply in a great story well told. As Francis King notes in his introduction, du Maurier was ''an indefatigable researcher,'' and this biography is a testament to her skill as both a historian and a storyteller. A fascinating and highly readable portrait of a true Renaissance man.