The photograph, taken by Peter Campbell in 1982, featured on a cover of the London Review of Books in 1982. See an earlier Brooknerian post here . Peter Campbell's son tells the story of the photo's rediscovery here . The image, not previously in wide circulation online, shows Brookner in her mid-fifties in the early days of her second life as a novelist. She has published A Start in Life and Providence . Her hand-to-head pose, a go-to for portrait photographers, will become a signature. For Brookner it likely refers to Ingres's painting of Mme Moitessier in the National Gallery ( here ). Hermione Lee's biography of Anita Brookner will be published in September.
'I suppose what one wants really is ideal company and books are ideal company.'