Blake Morrison - Böcker

'Tender, vivid and achingly sad' GUARDIAN, BOOK OF THE YEAR TWO SISTERS publishes on the 30th anniversary of Blake Morrison’s ground-breaking book And When Did You Last See Your Father? which forged the way for a new genre of confessional memoir. ‘She’s gone, that’s all, and though there’s no retrieving her I’d like to make sense of who she was and what she became. It wasn’t just that she changed over time. She could change from day to day. Drink made it worse but the origins went deeper. You never knew which you’d get, the kind and loving Gill or her doppelgänger. Two sisters.’ Blake Morrison has lost a sister and a half-sister in recent years. Both are the subjects of this remarkable and heart-breaking memoir, along with a forensic examination of sibling relationships in history and literature.Blake’s sister Gill struggled with alcoholism for a large part of her life, and her shocking death is the starting point for Two Sisters. Blake returns to their childhood to search for the origins of her later difficulties, and in doing so unearths the story behind his half-sister, Josie.As he unravels these narratives, Blake deals movingly in the guilt and shame that will be familiar to every person who has struggled with addiction in their family. He is unflinching in doing so, and the result is a book which provides testament to that common struggle, as well as acknowledging the complex, hidden forces on which all our lives are based.Two Sisters is the extraordinary new memoir from the chronicler of human frailty, Blake Morrison.

'Tender, vivid and achingly sad' GUARDIAN, BOOK OF THE YEAR TWO SISTERS publishes on the 30th anniversary of Blake Morrison’s ground-breaking book And When Did You Last See Your Father? which forged the way for a new genre of confessional memoir. ‘She’s gone, that’s all, and though there’s no retrieving her I’d like to make sense of who she was and what she became. It wasn’t just that she changed over time. She could change from day to day. Drink made it worse but the origins went deeper. You never knew which you’d get, the kind and loving Gill or her doppelgänger. Two sisters.’ Blake Morrison has lost a sister and a half-sister in recent years. Both are the subjects of this remarkable and heart-breaking memoir, along with a forensic examination of sibling relationships in history and literature.Blake’s sister Gill struggled with alcoholism for a large part of her life, and her shocking death is the starting point for Two Sisters. Blake returns to their childhood to search for the origins of her later difficulties, and in doing so unearths the story behind his half-sister, Josie.As he unravels these narratives, Blake deals movingly in the guilt and shame that will be familiar to every person who has struggled with addiction in their family. He is unflinching in doing so, and the result is a book which provides testament to that common struggle, as well as acknowledging the complex, hidden forces on which all our lives are based.Two Sisters is the extraordinary new memoir from the chronicler of human frailty, Blake Morrison.

A delightful compendium of musings from the master of life writing, the much-loved Blake Morrison, for those who practise the art of memoir, and those who read it. 'Hallelujah! — now is the perfect time for Morrison’s book On Memoir' THE TIMES ON MEMOIR is a gloriously freewheeling exploration of narrative non-fiction, its challenges, ethics and charms, and its power to move and change us.From AI to Ethics to Politics to Sex, there is something for every reader and writer in this modern classic.Gleaned from a lifetime as a passionate reader of others’ lives, as well as an unflinchingly honest chronicler of his own, Morrison’s A-Z is a trove of thoughtful literary exploration, amusing observations, and fascinating finds.

A delightful compendium of musings from the master of life writing, the much-loved Blake Morrison, for those who practise the art of memoir, and those who read it. 'Hallelujah! — now is the perfect time for Morrison’s book On Memoir' THE TIMES ON MEMOIR is a gloriously freewheeling exploration of narrative non-fiction, its challenges, ethics and charms, and its power to move and change us.From AI to Ethics to Politics to Sex, there is something for every reader and writer in this modern classic.Gleaned from a lifetime as a passionate reader of others’ lives, as well as an unflinchingly honest chronicler of his own, Morrison’s A-Z is a trove of thoughtful literary exploration, amusing observations, and fascinating finds.

In his masterpiece of family literature, And When Did you Last See Your Father?, Blake Morrison's mother appears as an intriguing but mostly silent figure. This is her startling and touching story - and a son's search to discover the truth about the remarkable Kerry girl who qualified as a doctor in Dublin in 1942, worked in British hospitals throughout the war, and then reinvented herself again to adapt to a quieter post-war family life. At the heart of the book there's a passionate wartime love affair, seen through the frank, funny, furious letters his parents wrote during their courtship. It evokes a surprising picture of life and love in WWII. From the obstacles the lovers faced, to their moments of hilarity and joy Things My Mother Never Told Me is a revealing and poignant anatomy of family conflict, love, war, and finally marriage. Kim Morrison emerges quietly, magically from the shadows, a determined heroine for our times.

Set over a long weekend in East Anglia, this is the chilling story of a rivalrous friendship - as told with deceptive casualness by the narrator, Ian. It opens with a surprise phone call from an old university friend, inviting Ian and his wife, Em, for a few days by the sea. Their hosts, Ollie and Daisy, are a golden couple, and the scene is set for sunlit relaxation. But dangerous tensions quickly emerge, and in the stifling atmosphere of a remote cottage in the hottest days of summer, Ollie and Ian resurrect a bet made twenty years before. Each day becomes a series of challenges for higher and higher stakes, setting in train actions that will have irreversible consequences.

This text is more than a translation of von Kliest's "Der Zerbrochene Krug", as the action now takes place in Skipton, in 1810 and is transformed by a tough Yorkshire dialect. The play concerns Judge Adam, Skipton's sole agent of justice, who is far from happy to be visited by the magistrate Walter Clegg, seeking out signs of malpractics. The trial that Walter overseas seems uncomplicated at first - the formidable Martha is suing her daughter's fiance, Leslie, for breaking her jug. However, many family grievances are unearthed and discovering the identity of a mysterious man seen with the daughter becomes crucial to the case.

In recent years Seamus Heaney has earned the reputation of being ‘the most important Irish poet since Yeats’. In this book, originally published in 1982, Blake Morrison identifies the central characteristics of his achievement, uncovering the sources of Heaney’s poems, placing his work within both Irish and Anglo-American traditions and explaining his poetry’s complex relation to the political troubles in Northern Ireland. A lively, personal and carefully researched account by a writer who is himself a poet and critic, this book forcefully challenges some of the myths surrounding Heaney’s work and places it in proper perspective.

In recent years Seamus Heaney has earned the reputation of being ‘the most important Irish poet since Yeats’. In this book, originally published in 1982, Blake Morrison identifies the central characteristics of his achievement, uncovering the sources of Heaney’s poems, placing his work within both Irish and Anglo-American traditions and explaining his poetry’s complex relation to the political troubles in Northern Ireland. A lively, personal and carefully researched account by a writer who is himself a poet and critic, this book forcefully challenges some of the myths surrounding Heaney’s work and places it in proper perspective.

ADAPTED INTO A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE, STARRING JIM BROADBENT"A painful, funny, frightening, moving, marvellous book ... everybody should read it" - Nick HornbyAnd when did you last see your father? Was it when they burnt the coffin? Put the lid on it? When he exhaled his last breath? When he last sat up and said something? When he last recognized me? When he last smiled?Blake Morrison's memoir is a candid, profoundly moving reflection on his relationship with his father, Arthur.Following Arthur's cancer diagnosis, Blake witnesses the slow erosion of the man he once knew. As his father's battle with the disease unfurls, Blake reflects on growing up with Arthur in Yorkshire and their relationship in the years since he left home. From Arthur's penchant for saving money - and the lengths he'd go to do so - to his wayward behavior on family holidays, Blake's fearless account resists an unwavering celebration of his father, showing him to be outlandish and recalcitrant, as well as capturing his humorous and caring qualities. The result is a rich, nuanced portrait of their relationship, capturing the accommodations and resentments that lie cloistered within familial love.And When Did You Last See Your Father? is a classic of the confessional memoir genre; a raw and shimmering interrogation of father-son relationships, masculinity, selfhood and pride."This luminous tribute to a beloved dad made me laugh until I cried and cry till my nostrils were raw. A masterpiece - one of those books that you treasure forever" - Val Hennessy

'Exquisitely metered, intimate and yet profound, glimmeringly intelligent…A worthwhile, interesting and impressive achievement’ Edward Docx, GuardianWhat matters most: fidelity or art? Marriage or friendship? The wishes of the living or the talents of the dead?Literary executor Matt Holmes finds himself considering these questions sooner than he thinks when his friend, the poet Robert Pope, dies unexpectedly. A trail of clues Rob has left within his archives leads Matt to a series of shocking discoveries that begins to unsettle everything he thought he knew about his friend. Should Matt conceal what he has found or share it? After all, it’s not just Rob’s reputation that could be transformed forever…

'Lucid, tender and humane . . . One of the most formally agile and compassionate poets of our age’ Fiona BensonHere you are, on the balcony,the sea serenading you,the sun with its armful of light.In Afterburn, Blake Morrison returns to poetry, his first calling, to offers scenes from his own life and the lives of others. In psychology, 'afterburn' refers to the time before a past event is assimilated – an idea that resonates through these poems (which themselves linger after reading) about memory and our attempts to articulate, shape or contain it.Throughout the collection, not least in two extraordinary sequences – one about his sister, the other about Elizabeth Bishop – the poet sees with new eyes the turning points in a life's accidental course. What holds his wise, touching, melancholy yet joyful poems together are the small intimacies that bind us to others, under time’s lengthening shadow: ‘you moved too fast for me to catch you / and so did the years.’Playful and charming, sometimes rakishly so, Afterburn nevertheless reveals an open, and vulnerable, heart.***'Distils the insights of a seasoned memoirist into images that linger long after the final page' Julia Copus'A master of the sonnet . . . I’m taking Afterburn to my desert island' Hugo Williams

"A remarkable, indispensable book" - Sunday TelegraphIn 1993 toddler James Bulger was beaten to death by two ten-year-old-boys. In the wake of this brutal crime, came one of the most public and shocking trials in living memory. Written in Morrison's supple, beautiful prose As If is a passionate, first-hand testimony of the Bulger case. It is a book about the nature of children, the meaning of childhood innocence and the state of the world we live in today.