A Corner of Paradise
A love story (with the usual reservations)
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Vintage Publishing
Published:3rd Jul '14
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
A charming and unconventional love story from Costa prize-winning memoirist Brian Thompson
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.
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.
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 *
ISBN: 9780099581864
Dimensions: 198mm x 130mm x 14mm
Weight: 184g
224 pages