Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self - Claire Tomalin

From the acclaimed author of Charles Dickens: A Life and The Invisible Woman, this celebrated biography casts new light on the remarkable diaries of Pepys and brings his story vividly to life once more.

Paperback : 576 pages

The Cromwell Museum’s connection with Pepys is not only that he was a pupil at the free Grammar School in our building, but he also lived through the period of the Civil War and Restoration and was affected by the changes they brought about.
Pepys was undoubtedly a man of parts and he had an extraordinary life. As well as an unparalleled diarist, he was variously a Member of Parliament, Secretary of the Admiralty and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He also had the happy knack of being a first-hand witness at so many of the major events of his age – the execution of Charles I, the Great Plague, the Great Fire of London and Charles II’s coronation procession.
Claire Tomalin’s biography vividly brings Pepys and his world to life. He suffered imprisonment, false accusation, and bereavement but above all he was a man of huge energy and passion.
Review by Dave P.