Overview

A charming and unconventional love story from Costa prize-winning memoirist Brian Thompson In 1973, Brian Thompson kissed the impossibly glamorous Elizabeth North for the first time, in a busy supermarket car park along the Leeds ring road. This is the story of the unexpectedly joyous consequences - ones to baffle many, not least themselves - until her death, aged 78. Both were writers, though they came from opposite ends of the social register - she an Admiral's daughter, he the descendant of unruly Cockney eccentrics. She was by nature a solitary, while he was loud, incurably facetious - and needy. From a tiny Harrogate terrace, to the deeply un-picturesque French farmhouse where they spent their summers, Brian and Liz battled their way to a heart-rending goodbye in an Oxford hospital ward. In many ways, their partnership was 'an exercise in asymmetry' - yet, despite the conflicts, they emerge in this deeply-felt memoir as a couple who were lucky enough to find their corner of paradise in one another.

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9780099581864

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Reviews

A joyous, life-and-love-affirming account of his unconventional relationship with fellow writer Elizabeth (Liz) North. Thompson writes with wit and precision about these small things, the eccentricities in other people that mark them apart and bring them to life. This book is about the ordinariness and singularity of being in love -- Rachel Joyce The Times As he proved before with his previous books Keeping Mum and Clever Girl, Thompson is a terrific memoirist - wry, vivid and with one eye trained unforgivingly on his own failings... A beautifully written, deeply affecting book -- John Preston Daily Mail As a portrait of a marriage through middle years and into the endgame, it is movingly particular and universal -- Peter Stanford Independent Good books about being old but feeling young are rare and this is one. Brian Thompson knows how to keep the reader reading -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham Spectator Thompson writes with a style and a sense of humour that engages the reader and avoids self-indulgence -- Douglas Osler Scotland on Sunday

A joyous, life-and-love-affirming account -- Rachel Joyce The Times A portrait of love and grief, both witty and tender Independent A beguiling mosaic of incidents and anecdotes... Writing of real charm and humour Sunday Times Thompson is a terrific memoirist - wry, vivid and with one eye trained unforgivingly on his own failings... A beautifully written, deeply affecting book Daily Mail A beguiling mosaic of anecdotes... Real charm and humour -- Nick Rennison Sunday Times

Author Information

Brian Thompson was born in London in 1935 and now lives in Oxford. He has written two award-winning volumes of memoir- Keeping Mum (2006), winner of the Costa Prize for Biography and the PEN/Ackerley Prize, and Clever Girl (2007), longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize. He is also the author of the Bella Wallis mystery series, also published by Chatto/Vintage.

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