A Corner of Paradise: A love story (with the usual reservations)

(Paperback)

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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.

Reviews

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 Bio

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.