Julian Barnes became world famous as the author of Flaubert's Parrot, and has gone on to consolidate his reputation as one of the most subtle writers of his time, both as a novelist and an essayist. Although a star guest on French television, the bilingual author is seldom to be seen on small screens in Britain, because the atmosphere of a standard studio is one he would rather avoid. Talking in the library, he shows us what we have been missing, in a conversation that will fascinate his admirers all over the world.