An entertaining romp through bookish mishaps, exposing all the weird, wow! and wtf? moments that the literary world has to offer

'A delightfully impish book of behind-the-scenes literary mishaps' The Sunday Times 'Word nerds, assemble! This is the book for us' LUCY MANGAN 'Devilishly funny and clever, this divine comedy of literary errors will remind you why words are such glorious, untameable things' LOUISE WILLDER It's a long journey from a writer's mind to a finished book - and a lot needs to go right along the way. But isn't it more interesting when things go wrong? With an expert Penguin editor as your guide, dive into the dark-side of the book world: a secret history fizzing with scandals, rivalries, cock-ups and con jobs. We'll discover how the tiniest of typos can have oversized consequences, unearth horrifying examples of bad taste and worse style, and peek into tales of forgeries and feuds as dramatic as any thriller. We'll unredact the most egregious cases of censorship, expose hoarders and thieves, and ask: after centuries of man-made mischief, can the humble book survive the new machine age?

"Fascinating" - Literary Review

"Very readable indeed" - Spectator

"Praise for How Words Get Good: 'Fascinating and funny" - Sunday Times

"Chock-full of the kind of anecdotes that are catnip for booklovers" - Financial Times

"Any bibliophile will find many enjoyable nuggets in this compendium of book chat" - Guardian

"A funny and illuminating peek into publishing below stairs" - Mail on Sunday

"Utterly fascinating - I adored it" - Diary of a Bookseller