'Glorious' EMMA THOMPSON
'Delightful' PHILIP PULLMAN
'Brilliant' JACQUELINE WILSON

From a reed cut on the banks of the Nile to the Sharpie, the pen has been with us for millennia. And all of humanity - from our faintest notions to our wildest inventions, our gossip and legends, our grandest proclamations and most intimate confessions - has flowed from a quill, ink chamber or ballpoint tip. The pen is the enduring link between a writer and anyone, anywhere, who can read their words. But the pen's own story is just as eventful as anything it has described.

In this expansive and engaging history, Simon Garfield traces the pen's remarkable journey across time and place. He examines the inks and instruments used by Shakespeare, Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, meets innovators and obsessives, travels to the workshops of pen makers and into wartime trenches, discovers why fountain pens make such good gadgets for spies and assassins, and learns about the bestselling pen that wouldn't stop leaking.

Written with Garfield's trademark wit and drawing on his own research and interviews, The Pen examines how this everyday object has been the indelible marker of our shared culture - and why it continues to shape the way we communicate in the digital age.

"A wry, amiable read . . . Garfield has a ready feel for how these ubiquitous, unremarkable items fit into human culture" - * The Times *

"A likeable and absorbing history" - * Times Literary Supplement *

"There really isn't a topic about which Simon Garfield can't find a lively tale to tell . . . From László Bíró and George Safford Parker to the exploding pens of James Bond, Garfield once again shows what a rich history there is to explore" - * Esquire *

"An absorbing survey of the writing implement from the ancient reed to the Apple Pencil . . . The Pen is the sort of book filled with facts you want to read aloud" - * World of Interiors *

"Praise for Simon Garfield: 'Digressive, gossipy, thoughtful and thoroughly entertaining" - * Sunday Times *