| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
In this sequel to her recent bestselling memoir, Hidden Lives, in which she told the story of the women in her family, the novelist and biographer Margaret Foster describes her father Arthur's life and death, structuring the narrative around the last six years of his life until his lingering death at the age of 96. As he begins to fail, Forster's beloved sister-in-law Marion is diagnosed with terminal cancer, and Forster compares the fierce struggles both Arthur and Marion put up against the inevitable, marvelling at their tenacity in the face of extreme humiliation and suffering. As she puts it, "These have been two stories not of life but of dying", so this is anything but a sentimental account of death, about which Forster ponders bleakly and with a bracing philosophical clarity. She sifts through her memories of growing up in Carlisle and builds up an often comical portrait of an irascible, routine-obsessed working-class man, who works hard for his family, hates hospitals and is scornful of self-pity. Arthur is as vivid as any of her fictional characters and Forster's calm account of his last few months in a nursing home, unable to hold on to his fiercely-guarded independence, unable to enjoy the landscapes of his beloved Lake District, is both moving and--in terms of his courage--inspiring. --Emily Ormond
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
A brilliant follow-up to HIDDEN LIVES, this account takes up the story of her gritty, northern father, Arthur. Margaret's father was not a man to answer questions - least of all questions about life and death. So she attempts to answer them for herself, as she looks back at his life and indomitable character - from the perspective of his ninth decade - evoking incidents from her childhood, his working life and stubborn old age, trying to make sense of their largely unspoken relationship, and of his tenacious hold on life, and on his family. His life, and that of her sister-in-law, Marion, were ordinary, and apparently unremarkable, but when faced with death lives like these become strangely precious, Margaret Forster marvels at the tenacity of the human spirit, at its capacity to fight to the bitter end. PRECIOUS LIVES is her most personal book yet: an intimate, true and wonderful memoir about living and dying.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I wasn't sure what to expect from this book as I had not read anything by Margaret Forster before.
It is a wonderful, insightful book about the author's relationship with her Father and her sister-in-law Marion. It explores her Father's preoccupation with death and shares the harrowing death of Marion with immense compassion. Having been at my Father's side when he died, I sympathised with many of the emotions that Margaret felt as she shared Marion's final weeks and I was impressed at her honesty.
My Mother read this book before me, and it was she who tempted me to read this book. We shared the same thought that Margaret Forster is able to bring the mundaneness of her Father's day to life so that we were intrigued and fascinated by it.
I shall now read Hidden Lives and have a list of other titles by Margaret Forster all lined up to read, I hope they live up to expectations!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Very interesting book. Takes me back to my younger days and the hard, difficult times for my parents, relations and friends. Nostalgic, very well written.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book focuses on Margaret Foster's father and sister-in-law, and howboth they and their familes had to cope with their deaths.
It is aninteresting and funny read, (not at all morbid or depressing) and alsovery touching.
I would recomend this book to anyone, and if you havenever read Margaret Foster before, she is a great author. I love herstyle, it's so easy to read, and her subject matter is always reallyinteresting, with a mix of novels and non-fiction.
It is aninteresting and funny read, (not at all morbid or depressing) and alsovery touching.
I would recomend this book to anyone, and if you havenever read Margaret Foster before, she is a great author. I love herstyle, it's so easy to read, and her subject matter is always reallyinteresting, with a mix of novels and non-fiction.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
