Walking in the Shade: Volume Two of My Autobiography, 19491962

(Paperback)

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The second volume of the autobiography of Doris Lessing, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Walking in the Shade begins in 1949, as Doris Lessing arrives in London with nothing but her young son and the manuscript of her first novel. With humour and clear-sightedness, she records her battles of the next decade: her involvement with communism, her love affairs, her struggle with poverty, the difficulties she faced as a young single mother.

But as well there is the success of that first novel, The Grass Is Singing, and meetings with personalities and opinion-makers Kenneth Tynan, John Osborne, Bertrand Russell and others.Describing, too, the genesis of The Golden Notebook, this book sees Lessing emerge as one of the most exciting, and groundbreaking, novelists of the post-war generation, and one of the twentieth centurys great writers.

Reviews

'Funny and heartbreaking... every word rings true.' Sunday Telegraph Books of the Year 'It is exhilarating to read. Not many lives are worth more than two long volumes, but Doris Lessing's most certainly is.' Literary Review

Author Bio

Doris Lessing was one of the most important writers of the second half of the 20th-century and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature 2007. Her novels include The Grass is Singing, The Golden Notebook and The Good Terrorist. In 2001, Lessing was awarded the David Cohen Prize for a lifetime's achievement in British literature. In 2008, The Times ranked her fifth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". She died in 2013.