An immensely readable and enjoyable life of Pepys, based on his famous diaries. The author uses careful detective work to build up a picture of Pepys' life both before, and after, the period covered by the diaries. She exposes the real Pepys, warts and all! As interesting as Pepys' life is - and it is full of incident, ups and downs, including spells in the Tower - what comes out clearly is the context, the exciting times in which Pepys lived. Of course, there is the Fire and the Plague, but equally as interesting is the adroit footwork needed, in an age of patronage, to keep your position in the great political changes - from Commonwealth to Restoration and again in the Glorious Revolution in 1688. All this comes out clearly in this volume. Pepys' sense of his own importance is clear, but also he makes an impressive witness to life in London at the time. A rivetting read - no wonder it was Whitbread Book of the Year 2002!