THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER AND WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2022 'Sparklingly sardonic ... There really is no one like Bennett' Independent 'Filled with elegiac memories and literary gossip ... a major National Treasure' Lynn Barber 4 March. HMQ pictured in the paper at an investiture wearing gloves, presumably as a precaution against Coronavirus. But not just gloves; these are almost gauntlets. I hope they're not the thin end of a precautionary wedge lest Her Majesty end up swathed in protective get-up such as is worn at the average crime scene. 20 March. With Rupert now working from home my life is much easier, as I get regular cups of tea and a lovely hot lunch. A year in and out of lockdown as experienced by Alan Bennett. The diary takes us from the filming of Talking Heads to thoughts on Boris Johnson, from his father's short-lived craze for family fishing trips, to stair lifts, junk shops of old, having a haircut, and encounters on the local park bench. A lyrical afterword describes the journey home to Yorkshire from King's Cross station via fish and chips on Quebec Street, past childhood landmarks of Leeds, through Coniston Cold, over the infant River Aire, and on.

Reflections on Covid and confinement from the unparalleled pen of Alan Bennett

About the Author
Alan Bennett has been a leading dramatist since Beyond the Fringe in the 1960s. His works for stage and screen include Talking Heads, Forty Years On, The Lady in the Van, A Question of Attribution, The Madness of George III, an adaptation of The Wind in the Willows, The History Boys, The Habit of Art, People, Hymn, Cocktail Sticks and Allelujah! His collections of prose are Writing Home, Untold Stories (PEN/Ackerley Prize, 2006) and Keeping On, Keeping On. Six Poets contains Bennett's selection of English verse, accompanied by his commentary. Recent fiction includes The Uncommon Reader and Smut: Two Unseemly Stories.

Reviews
The dyspeptic Pepys from Yorkshire, Alan Bennett, master of the "absurd and inexplicable" moments of ordinary life, offers up a curation of his thoughts, diaries and essays of the pandemic years that makes for a digestible stocking filler ... his thoughts and writing are as clear-eyed and vigorous as ever * Times Best Biography and Memoir Books of 2022 *
From the singular pen of the incomparable Alan Bennett comes a drily witty and endlessly charming diary of life in and out of lockdown, running the gamut from park bench encounters to haircuts to Boris Johnson * Waterstones Best Books of 2022: Biography *
Sparklingly sardonic ... There really is no one like Bennett, as this small gem demonstrates -- Martin Chilton * Independent *
Filled with elegiac memories and literary gossip ... a major National Treasure -- Lynn Barber * Telegraph *
Mournful and witty ... Bennett at his best -- Roger Lewis * Daily Mail *
I worship Alan Bennett -- David Sedaris
His stories improve with each telling ... Perhaps it is Bennett's long experience as a dramatist that lends his prose such perfect timing -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday *
Our greatest living writer -- Clive Davis * The Times *
He still has the sharpest pen in Britain ... Bennett is at his best when flirting with indecency ... mesmerising and unbearably sad * Daily Telegraph *
There is no other writer, certainly none from any other era or nation, quite like Alan Bennett -- David Sexton * Evening Standard *
Cleverer and funnier than any one person has a right to be -- John Carey * Sunday Times *
His writing remains as deft and seamless as ever -- Kathryn Hughes * The Guardian *
Vivid and evocative in the way we've come to expect from him ... the diaries of the inimitable Alan Bennett are always highly anticipated -- Alastair Mabbot * The Herald *
He may clearly be increasingly frail but, even in lockdown, Alan Bennett retains his customary waspish wit in the latest tranche of his diaries * Choice *



Book Information
ISBN 9781800811928
Author Alan Bennett
Format Hardback
Page Count 64
Imprint Profile Books Ltd
Publisher Profile Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 136g
Dimensions(mm) 182mm * 118mm * 12mm