Negative Capability: A Diary of Surviving
MICHÈLE ROBERTS
(SANDSTONE press, 288 PP, £14.99)
Tablet bookshop price £13.49 • Tel 020 7799 4064

In most book reviews, a certain amount remains unsaid: to what extent was the book under review shaped by an editor? Why did the publishers opt to print in this form and at this time?

In Negative Capability, Michèle Roberts pulls back the curtain to show how the process works from a writer’s perspective, and to reveal that it is altogether more stressful, contingent and uncertain than might be assumed. Roberts has published 12 novels, won awards, and worked as a radio presenter and university professor. Yet when her publisher rejects her latest effort she is left hurt and damaged. This is her response.