A very timely book, and one that I hope will introduce new readers to a writer Priest rightly calls one of the greatest of the 20th century.

The Sunday Times

Christopher Priest's sympathetic biography, completed by his wife after his premature death, will enlighten new readers and maintain Ballard's reputation.

Michael Moorcock, The Spectator

The best account yet of the life of one of the great English-language writers of the last century… Exemplary in detail and analysis, The Illuminated Mind is a page-turning portrait of an author whose work feels more bracingly relevant than ever.

The New World

A brave and moving book.

Guardian

A remarkable document, a series of homages of authors to each other, written with intense insight and abundant care.

Stuart Kelly, The Scotsman

The Illuminated Man is a miracle of a book, transcending categories and boundaries. It's both a richly insightful and keenly sympathetic biography of a genius, and one of the most powerful accounts of love, and of the passing of a life, that I have ever read. Together, Nina Allan and Christopher Priest take us to extraordinary places, ranging from the heart of Ballard's world and mythos to the limits of life itself. It's an invigorating read, richly stimulating and almost unbearably moving. More than anything, it's a celebration of the world-transforming power of literature, of the shining gift of the word and the happiness it brings, amid all life's mysteries. Forged through tragedy and written in devotion, it is a singular work, and simply unforgettable.

Martin MacInnes, author of Infinite Ground