Wilson's Dantesque excursion detracts only marginally from the brilliance of her book. Her great strength is the aliveness of her writing, which constantly interweaves glowing phrases from Lawrence into its fabric -- JOHN CAREY - SUNDAY TIMES

I cannot remember the last time one left me feeling so exhilarated, so challenged and absorbed ... Burning Man is a work of art in its own right, as wanton and as magnificently flawed as anything Lawrence ever wrote . The chorus of voices builds and builds. Sometimes ecstatic and sometimes shrill, it brings Lawrence alive in all his derangement: his ridiculousness as well as his glory; his perspicacity and his blindness . Wilson writes so brilliantly, and with such conviction. If you believe, as I do, that to live life well is to fail in ways that may be unimaginably huge, this strange and confounding book is for you -- RACHEL COOKE - OBSERVER

Not only does Frances Wilson revive her subject, she lifts the whole genre. Biography of this calibre is rare ... Our most original biographer - NEW STATESMAN

[Wilson] gives it to you straight . and leaves you to decide for yourself . This is a red-hot, propulsive book. The impression it leaves is of Lawrence not so much as a phoenix (his chosen personal emblem) rising from the flames, but of a moth coming too close to a candle and, singed and frantic, flying into and into and into the wick - THE TIMES

The challenge for any biographer of one Lawrence is to come to terms with his many contradictions - his rage, impotence, silliness and genius. This elegantly written, intelligent and witty account lays them all bare with admirable skill - EVENING STANDARD

Wilson tells the story well. It was a period of uncertainty, of bonds being shed and reforged; of the immense growth of Lawrence's reputation -- PHILIP HENSHER - SPECTATOR

Wilson's Guilty Thing, her life of Thomas De Quincey, is one of the finest recent literary biographies ... Burning Man is in the same league. . This is a book that performs a rare and laudable task: of saving a writer, posthumously, from himself. We are all beneficiaries of Wilson's articulate and persuasive advocacy -- David Wheatley - Literary Review

Heady, entrancing, comedic. Outstanding . Without condoning Lawrence's temper at all - quite the opposite, indeed - Wilson reveals an achingly flawed, ultimately sympathetic human being, who wrote mostly imperfect novels, but whose immense contribution to the twentieth-century literary scene is worth both acknowledging and commemorating. And whatever you have thought of Lawrence, or will think after reading this book, Frances Wilson's Burning Man is a virtuoso performance in the art of biography-writing -- Gerri Kimber - TLS

A brilliantly unconventional biography, passionately researched and written with a wild, playful energy. Above all Frances Wilson's great achievement is to liberate Lawrence from the old, heavy, moth-eaten "priest of love" mythology, instead breathing new life into his big novels as contemporary "autofiction", and lovingly stoking the furious fires in his letters, poetry and short stories. A new Lawrence emerges: a thinker, travel writer and essayist of strange, absurd, irrepressible genius -- RICHARD HOLMES

'"How can biography do justice to Lawrence's complexities?" asks this book. Frances Wilson shows us exactly how. Hers is the most original voice in life-writing today

-- LUCASTA MILLER, author of Keats

No biography of Lawrence that I have read comes close to Burning Man in getting across both his unquenchable fire and his appalling ruthlessness. After reading almost every page, you think "what a monster!" but then at the same time "what an eye!" - for people, landscape, birds, the whole world really. It's a wonderful book

-- FERDINAND MOUNT, author of Kiss Myself Goodbye

Dare we hope that Lawrence might soon assume his rightful place - neither messiah nor pariah - as a writer of boundless freshness, originality and breadth? If so Frances Wilson's stimulating and utterly enthralling book will be seen to play a vital role in the long-awaited rehabilitation of the man who, in the words of poet Tony Hoagland, "burned like an acetylene torch/ from one end to the other of his life" -- GEOFF DYER

[An] engrossing, entertaining and illuminating biography . Wilson, whose previous books include a compelling life of Thomas de Quincey, eloquently makes the case for Lawrence's genius and the need for his revaluation -- Rosemary Goring - HERALD

This is in many ways a superb biography . Her writing about him is gloriously vivid - THE WEEK, Book of the Week

Meticulously researched and energetic . She converts this seemingly incendiary and unapologetic radical into a patron saint of passionate intensity . It is a job well done in illuminating Lawrence's many complexities -- Nicholas Opfermann - REACTION, Books Digest

Wilson captures the ferocity and aggression of this driven author . Burning Man presents a rounded, empathetic portrait of Lawrence -- Martin Chilton - INDEPENDENT, Books of the Month

Beautifully written - THE TIMES

A vivid picture of a complex, difficult, haunted man whose art was driven by conflict - BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE

Thrillingly unusual ... If you want a cool, dispassionate biography, this is not it ... At times she seems to be almost channelling Lawrence, especially in her landscape descriptions, which are as good as Lawrence's own. - DAILY TELEGRAPH

[A] witty and rigorous reappraisal of this divisive, divided figure - STANDPOINT

Frances Wilson's spirited defence of D. H. Lawrence is a work of art in its own right ... Burning Man is a work of both non-fiction and imagination, impeccably handled by a writer in command of her craft - NEW ZEALAND LISTENER