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To the Hermitage

Brief Description
To the Hermitage tells two tales: a contemporary story of our narrator, a novelist, who has been invited to Stockholm and then to Russia to take part in what is enigmatically referred to as the Diderot Project, and one set two hundred years earlier in which... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
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A superbly funny and entertaining novel from a master of modern literature.

A superbly funny and entertaining novel from a master of modern literature.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

To the Hermitage tells two tales: a contemporary story of our narrator, a novelist, who has been invited to Stockholm and then to Russia to take part in what is enigmatically referred to as the Diderot Project, and one set two hundred years earlier in which Bradbury brilliantly recreates Diderot's journey to Russia to entertain and enlighten the mind of that powerful monarch, Catherine the Great.

Part of the Picador Collection, a series celebrating fifty years of Picador books and showcasing the best of modern literature.

To the Hermitage reads like a love letter to the life of the mind from a man who, in his work as a writer, critic, academic and teacher, has done much to contribute to that dizzying circulation of ideas which is so richly celebrated here.

The Independent on Sunday

'A charming, engaging, witty, amusing, playful, reflective and informative book by a writer who is in championship-winning form.'

The Sunday Express

Series: Picador Collection

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781035091454

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 09 July 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Picador

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 34.0mm

Width: 134.0mm

Height: 203.0mm

Weight: 372g

Pages: 528

About the Author

Malcolm Bradbury was a well-known novelist, critic and academic. He co-founded the famous creative writing department at the University of East Anglia, whose students have included Ian McEwan and Kazuo Ishiguro. His novels are Eating People is Wrong; Stepping Westward; The History Man, which won the Royal Society of Literature Heinemann Prize; Rates of Exchange, shortlisted for the Booker Prize; Cuts; Doctor Criminale; and To the Hermitage. He wrote several works of non-fiction, humour and satire, including Who Do You Think You Are?, All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go and Why Come to Slaka?. He was an active journalist and a leading television writer, responsible for the adaptations of Porterhouse Blue, Cold Comfort Farm and many TV plays and episodes of Inspector Morse, A Touch of Frost, Kavanagh QC and Dalziel and Pascoe. He was awarded a knighthood in 2000 for services to literature and died later the same year.

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