Book description
A brilliant follow-up to Hidden Lives, Margaret Forster's most
personal book yet takes up the story of her gritty, northern father,
Arthur, intertwined with that of her sister-in-law, Marion, who died
of cancer at almost half the age of the 96 year-old Arthur.
Margaret Forster'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 Forster looks back at Arthur's life and indomitable
character, she evokes 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.
Arthur and Marion's lives were ordinary, and apparently
unremarkable, but, when faced with death, lives like these become
strangely precious.
Margaret Forster is the author of many successful and acclaimed
novels, including
Have the Men Had Enough?,
Lady's Maid
,
Diary of an Ordinary Woman
,
Is There Anything You Want?, Over
and
Isa and May
, as well as bestselling memoirs (
Hidden Lives
and
Precious Lives
) and biographies. Her next book,
The Unknown Bridesmaid
will be published in 2013. She is married to writer and journalist
Hunter Davies and lives in London and the Lake District.
