Books by Merlin Holland

Stories for Young People: Oscar Wilde

by Oscar Wilde, Merlin Holland

A uniquely personal collection of Oscar Wilde's stories, introduced by his very own grandson. Each tale is filled with wonder and joy.

"Why, anyone can have common sense, provided that they have no imagination."
--From "The Remarkable Rocket"

"The Happy Prince." "The Selfish Giant." Anyone who has ever read these and other stories by Oscar Wilde will never forget the magical spell woven by his beautiful words. Now, Merlin Holland, the author's grandson and a distinguished writer and lecturer himself, presents 5 of Wilde's finest tales in their entirety. After an elegant and intimate discussion of Wilde's life, complete with family reminiscences, Holland introduces each tale with loving care. He helps young readers understand the stories' often profound themes and Wilde's very special use of language. In addition to "Prince" and "Giant", the compilation includes "The Nightingale and the Rose", "The Devoted Friend", and "The Remarkable Rocket." They are the perfect tales for parents and children to share.

Merlin Holland, the only grandson of Oscar Wilde, is an author and journalist living in France. For the last twenty years he has been researching his grandfather's life and works and he now writes, lectures and broadcasts regularly on the subject. His publications include: The Wilde Album (Fourth Estate,1995) which has been translated into seven languages; The Wit of Oscar Wilde (Folio Society, 1997); The Centenary Edition of the Complete Works of Oscar Wilde (HarperCollins,1999); The Oscar Wilde Anthology (HarperCollins, 2000); and The Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde (Fourth Estate, 2000).

Award-winning Louise Brierley studied art at Manchester Polytechnic and the Royal College of Art. She has illustrated numerous books, including Beauty and the Beast & Other Stories (Viking, 1996) and Songs from Shakespeare (Walker Books, 1993) and her paints have shown in many gallery exhibitions.

Conversations with Wilde: A Fictional Dialogue Based on Biographical Facts

by Merlin Holland

Imagined by Oscar Wilde's own grandson, this fictionalised conversation presents the essential biography of the poet, playwright and gay martyr.

Renowned for his endlessly quotable pronouncements, Oscar Wilde cut a dashing figure in late Victorian London ... until his tragic downfall resulting from an ill-judged libel action. We remember him not only for his famous trial and imprisonment, but also for a "devil's dictionary" of timeless aphorisms and for the enduring brilliance of plays such as The Importance of Being Earnest.

Wilde's life resembles his early short story, "The Remarkable Rocket", which, rising from nowhere in a shower of sparks, explodes and falls to earth, exclaiming as it goes out, "I knew I should create a great sensation." Merlin Holland expertly traces the arc of his illustrious ancestor's life, from his birth in Dublin in 1854 as Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde, to a brilliant career at Oxford University where his reputation for dandyish wit was first honed, through to his conquest of the drawing rooms and theatres of fashionable London, culminating in disgrace and imprisonment at the hands of the Marquess of Queensberry in the most notorious libel trial in English history. Wilde died in penury and obscurity in 1900, yet his reputation today has never been greater.

This engaging and innovative short book features a concise biographical essay on Wilde's meteoric career, followed by a Q&A interview based on Wilde's own words and Merlin Holland's unrivalled knowledge of his grandfather's life, work and puckish observations. This sparkling biography does full justice to Oscar Wilde's writerly genius and irrepressible humanity. It offers readers a renewed appreciation for a man who at times scadalised his era as much as he delights our own.

After Oscar: the Legacy of a Scandal

by Merlin Holland

Written by Oscar Wilde's only grandson, After Oscar recounts the gripping story of Wilde and his enduring legacy.

"Fascinating...A magnificent blend of scholarship and memoir and a vital contribution to Wildeana."--Stephen Fry, actor and author

Oscar Wilde died in November 1900, exiled in Paris, his reputation in tatters, exhausted by scandal and prison life. While the details of his life in the limelight are well known, often ignored are the reverberations of the Wilde scandal over the decades following his trial and death.

With pathos, humor, and his grandfather's signature wit, Merlin Holland charts the extraordinary afterlife of the legendary writer and thinker, tracing the dramatic fluctuations in Wilde's posthumous reputation.

A true feat of storytelling and scholarship, After Oscar documents decades of sensationalist conjecture surrounding the Wilde family and exposes a century of bigotry and hypocrisy within the cultural establishment. Here is a book that will amuse, infuriate, fascinate, and shock. Readers beware--you're in for a Wilde ride.