Behind the Bestsellers is a collection of fifty fascinating stories about the lives, loves and literature that inspired the world's greatest books. Full of literary history, dinner party trivia and lore of all kinds, this is a revealing journey through the minds of writers and the events that influenced the creation of our favourite works, from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice to Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and Truman Capote's In Cold Blood via Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Behind these famous titles are compelling and often moving tales of the authors' powerful and rich life experiences, from love to loss, from adversity to opportunity and from failure to success. J. K. Rowling, for instance, had the character of Harry Potter in her mind's eye from a young age, but it was the tragic death of her mother that gave the character a spectacular will to live. And when Charlotte Bronte's passionate bond with a charismatic Belgian professor was broken by the professor's wife, she was spurred on to pour her unrequited emotions into the novel Jane Eyre.Celebrating the novels that have captured the imagination and respect of readers around the world, and bringing to life the brilliant and often flawed personalities responsible for their existence, Behind the Bestsellers is a must-have for every book lover.