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It’s telling that the author describes ‘Maybe the Moon,‘ as being ‘partly autobiographical,’ despite the narrator being a three-foot-tall thirtysomething straight woman and not a middle-aged gay man.
Best-known for his electrifying first novel Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates then went on to write the same story, just as beautifully, several times over- sometimes making it longer (Young Hearts Crying) shorter (Cold Spring Harbour) or with two female protagonists (Easter Parade).
‘Broken nose. Loose teeth. Cracked ribs. Broken finger. Black eyes.
A slim memoir of poverty, abuse, agency and power, this story of a young gay survivor growing up in dirt-poor Carolina is only ninety-four pages long.
Life doesn’t work out as you planned. This is the central, completely non-judgmental message of Rosamond Lehmann’s tender narrative of an extramarital affair in shabby 30s London.
There’s something about this book that breaks down the wall of fiction and leaves the reader feeling viscerally overwhelmed by what they‘ve just read.
This is another of that very special kind of picture book which blurs the boundaries between what is for children and what can be appreciated by adults. The poet Michael Rosen wrote the book after the death of his son and Quentin Blake illustrates it sensitively.
I didn't know I could learn so much from entering the world of people with dwarfism, or children born of rape, people of musical genius or those with multiple and severe disabilities.... until I read this truly extraordinary book. I felt emotionally enlarged by every page.
It's not a book for the weak hearted.
Actually, it'd be better to say it's not a book for someone who is strong, mentally and emotionally.