Confessions: A Life of Failed Promises

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When you combine the deepest learning and the highest readability with the most plumptious story-telling, the result is A. N. Wilson Stephen Fry Known for his journalism, biographies and novels, A. N. Wilson turns a merciless searchlight on his own early life, his experience of sexual abuse, his catastrophic mistakes in love and his life in Grub Street as a prolific writer. Before he came to London, as one of the Best of Young British novelists, and Literary Editor of the Spectator, we meet another A. N. Wilson. We meet his father, the Managing Director of Wedgwood, the grotesque teachers at his first boarding school, and the dons of Oxford one of whom, at the age of just 20, he married, the renowned Shakespearean scholar, the late Katherine Duncan-Jones. At every turn of this reminiscence, Wilson is baffled by his earlier self whether flirting with unsuitable lovers or with the idea of the priesthood. His chapter on the High Camp seminary which he attended in Oxford is among the funniest in the book. We follow his unsuccessful attempts to become an academic, his aspirations to be a Man of Letters, and his eventual encounters with the famous, including some memorable meetings with royalty. The princesses, dons, paedophiles and journos who cross the pages are as sharply drawn as figures in his early comic fiction. But there is also a tenderness here, in his evocation of those whom he has loved, and hurt, the most.

Reviews

When you combine the deepest learning and the highest readability with the most plumptious story-telling, the result is A. N. Wilson * Stephen Fry *
A. N. Wilson is the most enjoyably readable writer I know. * Antonia Fraser *
A. N. Wilson is the supreme man of letters. He has conquered every field: journalism, novels, biography, history and now memoir. He is planet-brained and very funny a vanishingly rare combination. * Harry Mount *
I am stunned, as I always am, by Wilson's humanity and brilliance and hard honesty. * Deirdre McCloskey *
Distinguished literary figure A. N. Wilson's exquisite memoir tells the story of the wife he fell for as a student then betrayed - and the lifetime of lust and longing that led to a deeply poignant ending. * Daily Mail *
A. N. Wilson has written many brilliant biographies and novels but never a memoir - until now. It was worth the wait. So exhilarating. And definitely not a failed promise. * Telegraph *
Wilson is a torrentially readable autobiographer, capable of howlingly funny paragraphs, desperately sad scenes, gay slapstick, literary analysis and gossipy name-dropping in the same chapter. * John Walsh, Sunday Times *
an arresting, honest, memorable book, never nave or sloppy, tender and forgiving towards those who have hurt Wilson, contemptuous and merciless about his own cowardice, vanity and failings. * Literary Review *
Descriptions of life as a theological student have the mischievous, observant wit of an accomplished humourist. * The Spectator *
in this fascinating, searingly honest memoir [Wilson] tells more of his own life story. * Jacqueline Wilson, bestselling children's author *
Deliciously delicate barbs are scattered throughout the pages. * The Tablet *
A. N. Wilson is the greatest living man of lettersHe is proficient equally as a biographer, novelist, historian, essayist, editor and literary journalist. His every utterance is well worth pondering * The Oldie *
Scholarly, prolific and compulsively readable it is impossible to resist Wilsons storytelling From its very first pages, Confessions promises to be terrifically entertaining, and it doesnt fail in the slightest. * The Washington Post *
A. N. Wilson is nothing short of a genius, a searing journalist, a prolific biographer, a historian and a novelist. There will be no finer book this year. * Rory Knight Bruce, The Field *
All these accounts are fascinating, rendered with both melancholy and self-deprecating humor * Booklist *
Confessions reveals a dexterous storyteller Mr. Wilson himself turned to writing, writing, writingas if his earnest output might one day assuage the wistful sense with which I began to write this book, that I have never been completely sure who A.N. Wilson was. We arent sure, either, but it has been an interesting ride. * Wall Street Journal *
Wilsons yarn has much to recommend A readable, often entertaining summation of a life of hard work and second thoughts. * Kirkus Reviews *
...a poignant saga laugh out loud, hilarious... a compelling read.. replete with acerbic humor. * City Book Review *
Wilson knows how to tell a good story Wilson captures a world that is smaller than today but also full of possibilities too soon passed. This may not be a confession, but it is a lament, and rightly so. * The Washington Examiner *

Author Bio

A. N. Wilson is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and holds a prominent position in the world of literature and journalism. He is a prolific and award-winning biographer and celebrated novelist. His novel, Winnie and Wolf, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. His last book The Mystery of Charles Dickens was published in 2020 to great critical acclaim and is at present being dramatized by Andrew Davies for British television.