I am a Professor of British Literature and Culture, and I've written books on Wilfred Owen, the 1918 Armistice and Lady Chatterley's Lover. I've also edited three books about Edward Thomas. I gave the British Academy's Chatterton Lecture in 2018, on Edward Thomas. I have appeared on various television programmes, radio programmes and podcasts. You can find out more about me on my website.

My next book, about Lady Chatterley’s Lover, will be published in May 2026 by Yale University Press.

‘Seriously entertaining even on the serious subject of censorship, this is a very clever look at the life of a book. Disgustingly good.’ – Lucy Worsley, author of Jane Austen at Home

‘Erudite, informative and told with humour. I loved this account of the explosive arrival and embattled aftermath of a literary sensation – and of the response from an outwardly prudish, inwardly prurient public. Lawrence’s ‘dirty little book’ has changed the world.’—Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment

'Peace at Last: A Portrait of Armistice Day, 11 November 1918' was published by Yale University Press in October 2018. Peace at Last was 'Book of the Week' in The Evening Standard, and it was included in the Daily Telegraph's ‘Books of the Year’, The New Statesman's 'Best Books of 2018' and in the ‘Best Books of 2018’ in Gulf News.

My biography of Wilfred Owen was published by Yale University Press in 2014 and in paperback in 2015. A Daily Mail 'Book of the Week’ and 'Must Read'. 'Top Ten Biographies of the Year: 2014', Booklist. ‘Books of the Year’, New Zealand Book Council. ‘Books of 2014’, BBC. ‘Pick of the Paperbacks’, The Sunday Times.

I studied at St Andrews University (MA) and then at The Queen's College, Oxford University (M.Phil and D.Phil).