North Devon Coroner John Tomalin recorded a verdict of accidental death, saying it was "an unfortunate set of circumstances".

BBC: Northcott Mouth

Like Ms Tomalin, he has allowed himself to imagine likely situations, but there are too many of them and he does it less convincingly.

ECONOMIST: Literary lives

The light Ms Tomalin casts on her subject is strong but oblique: the profile of the novelist appearssurrounded by her friends and neighbours and by her energetic and beloved family.

ECONOMIST: Literary lives

Yet Claire Tomalin, whose studies of Mary Wolstonecraft, Nellie Ternan and Dorothea Jordan have proved her to be one of our most painstaking, distinguished and sympathetic biographers, has produced a portrait of remarkable subtlety.

ECONOMIST: Literary lives

Claire Tomalin's technique seems, at first, surprisingly whimsical.

ECONOMIST: Literary lives