Knox Brothers

Boston Globe

Have no doubt: This is a book of real feeling, wit, and intelligence.

Joan Acocella

Marvelous.

Wall Street Journal

Fitzgerald manages to dramatize with love and candor four figures whose individuality was more than mere eccentricity. She also manages to recapture something of the bygone times, the tapestry of earnest sentiment and playfulness, that made the Knox brothers possible.

Washington Post Book World

Not just a biography, The Knox Brothers provides superior literary entertainment. It deserves a wide readership.

Library Journal

British novelist Fitzgerald (e.g., The Blue Flower, a National Book Critics Circle award winner), who died earlier this year at age 83, writes that as she was growing up she did not realize the uniqueness of her father Edmund Knox ("Evoe") and his three brothers. Each of the men was singularly remarkable: Evoe (1881-1971) became the editor of Punch in the 1930s and 1940s; Dillwyn (1884-1943) was a mathematician and wartime codebreaker; Wilfred (1886-1957) was a prominent Anglo-Catholic priest and selfless welfare worker; and Ronald (1888-1957) was an outspoken Roman Catholic priest, later a monsignor. Born to a large family with strong Anglican and Quaker traditions, the brothers shared a full but shabby childhood, losing their mother early. They came of age before and during World War I and counted among their friends Maynard Keynes, Lytton Strachey, and Rupert Brooke. Fitzgerald masterfully weaves the themes of religious devotion and family loyalty (the brothers remained close all their lives) into a charming and affectionate portrayal of a remarkable family. Highly recommended for larger collections.--Diane Gardner Premo, Rochester P.L., NY Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

Fitzgerald (an award-winning novelist) edited and corrected this new edition of her biography of her father and uncles. (The first edition was published in 1977.) She describes their personalities, their activities and careers, their relationships to each other, and their differences. The chapters trace their lives through the various periods of the 20th century, describes the life and mind, not only of four individuals, but of one family. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Richard Eder

[The book] is well worth notice; both for itself and for the light it casts on an author's evolution -- particularly such a late evolution -- into what she would become. In its own right The Knox Brothers is a lively account of two generations of a remarkable English family straddling the divide between late Victorian and Edwardian. The anecdotes are wonderful...The Knox Brothers provides a striking insight into the elusive nature of her genius.
—The New York Times

Robert Taylor

Compelling . . . Not only is it the story of four remarkable individuals but the sum of their shared sensibility.
— The Boston Globe

Wendy Lesser

The Knox Brothers is a fortune in gold.
—New York Observer