Hailed as “a virtuoso exercise” (Sunday Telegraph), this book reflects candidly, sometimes with great humor, on the condition of being old. Charming readers, writers, and critics alike, the memoir won the Costa Award for Biography and made Athill, then ninety-one, a surprising literary star.
Diana Athill was one of the great editors in British publishing. For more than five decades she edited the likes of V. S. Naipaul and Jean Rhys, for whom she was a confidante and caretaker. As a writer, Athill made her reputation for the frankness and precisely expressed wisdom of her memoirs. Writing in her ninety-first year, “entirely untamed about both old and new conventions” (Literary Review) and freed from any of the inhibitions that even she may have once had, Athill reflects candidly, and sometimes with great humor, on the condition of being old–the losses and occasionally the gains that age brings, the wisdom and fortitude required to face death. Distinguished by “remarkable intelligence…[and the] easy elegance of her prose” (Daily Telegraph), this short, well-crafted book, hailed as “a virtuoso exercise” (Sunday Telegraph) presents an inspiring work for those hoping to flourish in their later years.
Author: Diana Athill
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 12/01/2009
Pages: 208
Weight: 0.4lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.40w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780393338003
Language: English
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