Alethea Hayter

Though she loved the heat she could do nothing but lie on the sofa and drink lemonade and read Monte Cristo... 'Never bettered.' Guardian'Wholly original.' Craig Brown'A pathfinder.' Richard Holmes'Extraordinary.' Penelope Lively June 1846. As London swelters in a heatwave — sunstroke strikes, meat rots, ice is coveted — a glamorous coterie of writers and artists spend their summer wining,...