A beautifully written, moving and controversial memoir that examines just how high a price one can pay for love. In 1992 Mark Sanderson met the love of his life. A Lonely Hearts ad in TIME OUT may not have promised much, but a long and detailed letter from an Australian called Drew marked the beginning of a relationship Mark is still struggling to come to terms with. They moved in together in May 1993; in April 1994 Drew was diagnosed with skin cancer. He was told it would be a miracle if he were still alive in two years; three months later he was dead. WRONG ROOMS is their story -- a love story, a ghost story, a confession and a lament. Alternately heartbreaking and funny, the book is never less than searingly honest in the face of the most rigorous emotional trauma. In the process it forces us to consider our own values and actions, and how high a price we would pay for those we love.
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Wrong Rooms is a deeply moving memoir of what it means to watch the love of your life die before your very eyes. In 1992 Mark Sanderson, a respected writer on London magazine Time Out, had an unlucky love life which had left him feeling like "a pallid, lonely Englishman". Deciding to put an advert in a lonely hearts' column, he received a reply from an Australian called Drew, "a sci-fi-loving computer nerd who told lousy jokes". Inevitably he replied, and over the next two years, they fell in love. "Drew made me happier than I had ever been before. He took me to places I never expected to see" writes Sanderson. But in April 1994 Drew was diagnosed with skin cancer. Within three months he was dead.
Wrong Rooms is the emotionally raw story of Sanderson's life with Drew, from domestic bliss through sickness and finally slow, painful death. The early sections of the book honestly evoke their blossoming relationship, as well as offering a deft portrait of gay life in 90s London. Sanderson writes with a clarity and sincerity that is all the more extraordinary because of the contrast between his life before and after Drew: "we entered a grave new world of waiting rooms, consulting rooms, hospital wards and theatres. The facts that our lives had only just changed for the better made the shock even worse". In the final moments with Drew Sanderson "experienced true horror for the first time", and at times it feels almost too intimate to read on. The book is clearly a cathartic experience for Sanderson; it is also probably one of the most painfully honest books about the loss of a lover to be written in a long time. --Jerry Brotton --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
I cannot remember when I last read anything that moved me as deeply as this brave and honest memoir ... I recommed this extraordinary book most highly -- Sunday Telegraph
It's a very moving book. I recommend it to you. -- Time Out
You will read this book with a lump in your throat ... It is one of the most moving I have ever read. -- The Sunday Times --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
It's a very moving book. I recommend it to you. -- Time Out
You will read this book with a lump in your throat ... It is one of the most moving I have ever read. -- The Sunday Times --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
The cover of this book got my attention to begin with but as soon as i started to read the first page i knew i would have to purchase it and I havent put it down since. You go through a series of emotions whilst reading this book and you feel for both Mark and Drew. When i started reading this book i was at my lowest point and i soon bonded with Mark and Drews story. It made me realise that every moment of happiness however, big or small was worth a life time of memories. I strongly recommend this book to anyone, I just couldnt put this book down. Well done to Mark because without his bravery and loyalty we wouldnt have got to know a truely wonderful man like Drew and what a wonderful life they had together.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This was an extremely well written and moving book about the relationship between Mark and his lover Drew, who he met through a contact ad placed in Time Out. Although about a gay relationship its appeal is in love and the complications of death. Although some will focus on the manner in which Drew died, for me it was an account of love and the joys of being in a warm and loving relationship. Mark Sanderson does a remarkable job in writing about such a personal and emotive subject while still capturing the depth of his relationship and the obvious lasting impact it has on his life. For those who have experienced love, it is a book which will make you laugh. For those who have not it will encourage you to look for a soul mate. Excellent!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Daniella
Format:Hardcover
I was given this book by a family member who was so incredibly moved by Mark Sandersons honesty he left his job, and re-evaluated where he was in life. I too was left with a void once I had finished reading Wrong Rooms. Having gone through loss of loved ones to cancer - this was totally true to life and also unexaggerated illness. Wrong Rooms, helped me to grieve, and to laugh, and to love. A graphic portail of terminal illness along with the happiness of true love which will never die.
A hard book to put down, and also very hard to pick up again due to its honestly and untamed heart. This book should and hopefully will appeal to eveyone who has ever loved and lost. I was moved by Marks devotion.
A hard book to put down, and also very hard to pick up again due to its honestly and untamed heart. This book should and hopefully will appeal to eveyone who has ever loved and lost. I was moved by Marks devotion.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very sad.
A really sad book. I bought it because I have recently met the author who told me some of his story. Read more
Published 6 days ago by V Morris
5.0 out of 5 stars
An amazing book
I originally read this book over 10 years ago and found it hard to put down. This is a true love story which looks at personal relationships and the problems that true love faces... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Andy Brant
5.0 out of 5 stars
wrong rooms
Recommend this to one and all. The title is mis-leading but you are in for a surprise and a real treat. It will bring you to tears as it also is a true story.
Published 9 months ago by bykerbill
5.0 out of 5 stars
Read this again.....
I read this book several years ago and echo the previous reviews in the emotional response to what I thought was an amazing story. Read more
Published on 30 Mar 2011 by Junolia
5.0 out of 5 stars
Compelling reading
Mark Sanderson writes a compelling account of the pain and passion of falling in love, made all the more poignant by his being unable to share his joy at falling in love as this is... Read more
Published on 19 July 2009 by H Crittenden
4.0 out of 5 stars
Better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all..
This is a very candid and truthful account of falling in love the pressure it brings, the joy and the lost when its no longer there. Read more
Published on 6 July 2006 by Laura Daly
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wrong Rooms
An incredibly honest and moving account of the birth and (untimely) death of a loving relationship. Beautifully written and - although the places it takes you towards the end are... Read more
Published on 20 Aug 2005
5.0 out of 5 stars
A truly extraordinary book
'Wrong Rooms' by Mark Sanderson is an astonishing book. Painful and heart-breakingly honest, this memoir was as intense an emotional experience as I have ever felt reading a book. Read more
Published on 5 Feb 2005
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly recommended
Its hard to review this book without repeating the words of other reviewers..."honest....tragic....moving....emotional" etc, yet, it is indeed all these things and more. Read more
Published on 4 Jan 2004 by K. Morris
5.0 out of 5 stars
brilliant
I adore this book. It was given to me by an austrailian friend before she went back to oz, still to this day i dont know why but im glad she did. Read more
Published on 22 Sep 2003
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