You Left Early: A True Story of Love and Alcohol

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There are a million tales of love and many more of addiction, claims the press release for You Left Early, a grief memoir by the award-winning novelist Louisa Young. “This one is truly transcendent,” it promises. Perhaps both that novel and this memoir represent me clinging desperately to something that protects me from my greatest feat – to whit, that if I allow myself to perceive what many other believe, that an alcoholic’s behaviour is entirely his/her own fault, and that when Robert repeatedly told me that I’d chosen the wrong man he was for once telling the truth, I will be swamped by an impossible toxic flood of emotion because he was in fact a bastard and I am, still, a fool. She has contributed to various anthologies, including I Am Heathcliff (ed. Kate Mosse), Underground; Tales for London (ed. Ann Bissell) and A Love Letter to Europe (Coronet).

You Left Early by Louisa Young LoveReading Reviews of You Left Early by Louisa Young

Perhaps I have an advantage point in my opinion having grown up not far from Wigan, and also with an alcoholic father. As a composer, he lent airs and grace to numerous films, television dramas and plays. His tragedy was that he knew his alcoholism had blighted what he could have achieved without it - but his achievements were remarkable none the less. Not the least inspiring the devoted love and care of a rather extraordinary woman as creative as him. Fifty years ago, people didn’t used to talk about cancer. Now, we do Marathons in pink animal onesies to raise money for research. Can we please open our hearts, save our lives, and talk about alcoholism now? We need to fling up some windows, shine some light, and start this conversation out in the open. This is my way of doing that. Her novel "Twelve Months and a Day" was published in the UK by Borough Press in June 2022, and by Putnam in the US in January 2023, when it was People Magazine's Book of the WeekThis brutal, beautiful memoir from award-winning novelist Louisa Young is a heartbreaking portrayal of love, grief and the merciless grip of addiction. Young worked as a sub-editor, then as a freelance columnist and feature writer on national publications, including the Guardian, the Sunday Times, the Daily Express, Marie Claire, Tatler, Bike Magazine and Motorcycle International. She also worked at various stages as a despatch rider, a busker (double bass and vocals), a waitress, a kitchen-hand and a shop assistant. [5] If the story of their relationship is occasionally repetitive, that captures the nature of alcoholism and reflects Louisa’s outpouring of still-raw emotion. Children under 5 can have their own Pebble card and can borrow up to 25 board books, picture books or talking books for up to three weeks. How long can I keep the items I have borrowed?

Louisa Young

Above all Louisa Young has written an important book, one that demands we rethink a culture of blame around alcoholism.There are a million love stories, and a million stories of addiction. This one is truly transcendent. It is at once a compelling portrait of a unique and charismatic man; a bittersweet reflection on an all-consuming love affair; and a completely honest and incredibly affecting guide to how the partner of an alcoholic can possibly survive when the disease rips both their lives apart. Her first book, A Great Task of Happiness, was a biography of her grandmother Kathleen Scott, widow of Captain Scott of the Antarctic, published by Macmillan in 1995. [6] Then came three novels set in London and Egypt: Baby Love, Desiring Cairo and Tree of Pearls (Flamingo). Baby Love was listed for the Orange Prize for Fiction. [2] These were followed in 2002 by The Book of the Heart, a cultural history of the heart as it is seen through art, religion, love and anatomy. In 2007 she was a curatorial advisor for the Wellcome Foundation exhibition The Heart, which was inspired by her book. [7] After graduation Robert built a career as a pianist and composer while Louisa became a novelist. Robert’s future was bright but he increasingly sabotaged it by being unreliable, cantankerous or both.

Borrow or request items from the library - Surrey County Council Borrow or request items from the library - Surrey County Council

She is aghast when he writes of her as “my old friend” and describes breaking up with another woman as the “biggest mistake of my life”. Eat, Drink, and Be Merry: The Ultimate Guide to Celebrating Christmas with the Best Drinks Books On The Shelves The most riveting, heartbreaking book I've ever read about addiction, but above all about the nature of love. Already one of my books of the year' Linda Grant

A heart-breaking memoir that takes you on an emotional journey with love and resilience leading the way Yes, it’s embarrassing, painful, private stuff. But there are a million and a half people in the UK who are alcoholics, many with people who love them wishing to God that they weren’t. There’s no point writing about it if I’m not going to be honest. I’d like us all stop feeling ashamed about alcoholism, and to treat it as the disease it is. As a widow to that disease, I’d like us to admit how widespread it is. To help each other, openly.