Worlds Apart: A Memoir

(Paperback)

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'An absorbing and zesty read, both high-minded and full of high gossip. In short, a rare and unexpected treat' Melvyn Bragg ____________________ The writer David Plante has kept a diary of his life among the artistic elite for over half a century. It is an extraordinary document, both deeply personal and a rare window onto disappearing worlds. This extracted memoir spans the 1980s, a period of exploration and growth for Plante and his lover Nikos Stangos, a partnership which will endure for forty years. David Plante and Nikos Stangos first made a life together in London in the mid-sixties, when as newcomers they were introduced by Stephen Spender to his circle, connections criss-crossing, dazzlingly, through the air of their adopted city, interconnecting so many admired figures. Now navigating worlds beyond London from a house-share with Germaine Greer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to a trip to Jerusalem with Philip Roth; from the loss of parents to the growing spectre of AIDS; and in New York, Umbria, Lucca, the Aegean and rural Ireland these are stories of expanding horizons and of a deepening and developing love: the challenges of monogamy, the strains of separation, of a growing maturity and awareness and of what it is to belong. Worlds Apart is a poignant, moving portrait of a relationship and a luminous evocation of a world of writers, poets, artists and thinkers.

Reviews

An absorbing and zesty read, both high-minded and full of high gossip. In short, a rare and unexpected treat * Melvyn Bragg *
David Plante is the ideal diarist: he has a fascination with the famous, a relish for anecdote and gossip, an ability to capture people in a few words, and the essential self-awareness The treat of the year * Spectator Books of the Year *
Sharply observant, drily witty diary * The Times Books of the Year *
Absorbing, illuminating and hugely entertaining A vivid memorial to an entire era * Times Literary Supplement *
A window onto a changing world ... Powerful as a portrait of mutual love * Guardian *

Author Bio

David Plante is the author of the novels The Ghost of Henry James, The Family (nominated for the National Book Award), The Woods, The Country, The Foreigner, The Native, The Accident, Annunciation and The Age of Terror. He has published stories and profiles in the New Yorker, and features in the New York Times, Esquire and Vogue. He lives in London; Lucca, Italy; and Athens, Greece.