Hastings, Selina. Sybille Bedford: A Life. Knopf. Feb. 2021. 416p. ISBN 9781101947913. $30. Downloadable. LITERARY BIOGRAPHY

Lee, Hermoine. Tom Stoppard: A Life. Knopf. Feb. 2021. 880p. ISBN 9780451493224. $35. Downloadable. LITERARY BIOGRAPHY

McCutchan, Ann. The Life She Wished To Live: A Biography of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Author of The Yearling. Norton. Feb. 2021. 448p. ISBN 9780393353495. $35. LITERARY BIOGRAPHY

Marsh Biography Award winner Hastings, who’s assayed Nancy Mitford, Evelyn Waugh, and Somerset Maugham, offers a life-and-works first look at Sybille Bedford, herself a distinguished biography (of Aldous Huxley) and the author of four novels. James Tait Black prize–winning biographer Lee takes on iconic playwright Tom Stoppard, assaying his vast oeuvre (from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead to The Coast of Utopia, plus work in other genres), his numerous friends (from Mick Jagger to Václav Havel), and his rich life. The founding director of the University of Wyoming's MFA in creative writing program, McCutchan takes on the Pulitzer Prize–winning Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings to reveal The Life She Wished To Live.