Merlin Holland, the only grandson of Oscar Wilde, is an author living in France. For the last 40 years he has been researching his grandfather’s life and works, and writes, lectures, and broadcasts regularly on the subject in English, French, and German. His most notable publications include Irish Peacock and Scarlet Marquess, the first complete, verbatim record of the libel trial which ultimately brought Oscar Wilde to ruin, and The Wilde Album, a pictorial biography of Oscar Wilde. After Oscar, his latest book, is an account of Oscar’s posthumous life and traces the extraordinary fluctuations in his grandfather’s reputation after his death.

After Oscar’s conviction in 1895, his wife, Constance, and their two sons were forced to move abroad and change their name to Holland. The family has never reverted to the name Wilde.