In Pursuit of Love – The Search for Victor Hugo’s Daughter

In 1863, the daughter of the most famous writer in the world (Victor Hugo) suddenly leaves her family’s home in the Channel Islands, bound for Nova Scotia. Adèle Hugo is in pursuit of a young British soldier who has rejected her, and from Normandy to the Caribbean Islands, this innovative biography follows her reckless journey of unrequited love. This book is part memoir and part travelogue, as Bostridge retraces Adèle’s footsteps and weaves into the story episodes of his own emotional life – producing an invigorating new approach to the writing of a biography. The event will be chaired by Richard Pedley.

Mark Bostridge’s books include the highly- acclaimed biographies: Vera Brittain: A Life, and Florence Nightingale: The Woman and her Legend, winner of the 2009 Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography and the best-selling Letters from a Lost Generation. He has written widely for national newspapers and journals, and appeared on television and radio.