Overview

The charming, funny successor to the hugely popular `Notes to my Mother-in-Law', from the inimitable Phyllida Law.Following Phyllida Law's wonderful and acclaimed `Notes to my Mother-in-Law' - which comically and tenderly documented the author's relationship with her husband's mother who lived with the family for 17 years - we now have a chronicle of Phyllida's relationship with her own mother who suffered from dementia. Recently widowed, bringing up her own two daughters (actresses Emma and Sophie Thompson) and working as a successful actress herself, Phyllida went up and down to Scotland to spend as much time with her ailing mother as she could manage. During the period she kept a lively and frank journal noting many of the sad yet funny examples of her mother's faltering grip on reality. The journal includes reminiscences of her own childhood and the tragic death of her only brother.This book promises to be just as warm and moving as her first and will also be beautifully enhanced by the author's illustrations.

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9780007508877

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Reviews

Praise for 'Notes to my Mother-in-Law': 'I just sat down and read it straight through and cried. Dreadfully funny and incredibly touching.' Joanna Lumley 'Moving, funny, enchanting. A beautiful, original portrayal of family life.' Sheila Hancock 'Something quite splendid, new and unforgettable.' Stephen Fry 'Wonderful, warm, witty and wise. Just like the author.' Ben Elton 'The book is as extraordinary as the woman who wrote it. The correspondence started with the odd note on the kitchen table reminding Granny Annie of a doctor's appointment or that there was ham in the fridge, but built into more. 'What happened was that she was getting increasingly deaf, and one day I realised that although she was sitting through all the shrieking of family lunch, she couldn't actually hear any of it. So, I started to write her summaries at the end of the day and leave them by her bed. It became quite therapeutic. I used to scribble for hours.' The result is quite extraordinary. On one level, it's a humorous work about hearing aids and incontinent dogs. On another, it's an uplifting story of family love and duty, and generational conflict.' Daily Mail 'One of the most pleasurably giddy reads I've had for ages, it's laugh-out-loud funny as well as deeply poignant' Scotsman

Praise for 'Notes to my Mother-in-Law': 'I just sat down and read it straight through and cried. Dreadfully funny anod incredibly touching.' Joanna Lumley 'Moving, funny, enchanting. A beautiful, original portrayal of family life.' Sheila Hancock 'Something quite splendid, new and unforgettable.' Stephen Fry 'Wonderful, warm, witty and wise. Just like the author.' Ben Elton 'The book is as extraordinary as the woman who wrote it. The correspondence started with the odd note on the kitchen table reminding Granny Annie of a doctor's appointment or that there was ham in the fridge, but built into more. 'What happened was that she was getting increasingly deaf, and one day I realised that although she was sitting through all the shrieking of family lunch, she couldn't actually hear any of it. So, I started to write her summaries at the end of the day and leave them by her bed. It became quite therapeutic. I used to scribble for hours.' The result is quite extraordinary. On one level, it's a humorous work about hearing aids and incontinent dogs. On another, it's an uplifting story of family love and duty, and generational conflict.' Daily Mail 'One of the most pleasurably giddy reads I've had for ages, it's laugh-out-loud funny as well as deeply poignant' Scotsman

Praise for 'How Many Camels Are There in Holland?': 'So much merriment courses through Phyllida Law's account of looking after her mother ... Many of their exchanges belong in an Alan Bennett play' Daily Telegraph 'The first thing that strikes you about Phyllida Law's account of her mother's descent into dementia is how merry and life-affirming it is. The fast pace gives it the immediacy of a diary and from the first page you are thrust into the middle of the tumbling, loving Thompson family...Not once does Phyllida moan, tears are only occasionally mentioned and always cried in private... It is the ultimate in girl power... the perfect (gin &) tonic' Express 'Her and Mego's exchanges often have the ring of a daffy sitcom. At one point she shouts after her glaucoma-afflicted mother You haven't got your long-distance glasses on, as the latter totters out the door for a stroll. Don't worry dear, Mego shouts back. I'm not going any distance ' Independent

Author Information

Phyllida Thompson has appeared in numerous plays, television series and films, including Peter's Friends, Much Ado about Nothing, Foyle's War and Kingdom. She was married to Eric Thompson, the writer and narrator of the English version of The Magic Roundabout, until his death in 1982. She has two daughters, Emma and Sophie. `Notes to my Mother-in-Law was her first book'.

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