This is the story of Boswell's 'presumptuous task': his biography of Samuel Johnson. It traces the unlikely friendship between these two such different men, one of the most compelling pairings in the history of literature; and exposes the tensions arising from Boswell's decision to undertake a life of his friend and mentor. Acclaimed biographer Adam Sisman provides a fascinating and original account of Boswell's seven-year struggle to write the Life of Johnson, following Johnson's death in 1784. At the time, Boswell was trying and failing to make his mark in the world; beset by anxieties, about money and about his desperately ill wife; distracted by drinking and philandering; torn between his responsibilities as a Scots laird and the lure of London; tormented by rival biographers; often embarrassed, humiliated or depressed. 'Many a time have I thought of giving it up,' he confessed, when the work was almost finished. Read Less