You Left Early: A True Story of Love and Alcohol

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Beneath the surface lurk questions, such as: shouldn’t she have let him drop to the bottom? Did he really love her? And indeed, what is love? There are a million tales of love and many more of addiction, claims the press release for You Left Early, a grief memoir by the award-winning novelist Louisa Young. “This one is truly transcendent,” it promises. Above all Louisa Young has written an important book, one that demands we rethink a culture of blame around alcoholism. I am not able to give a positive review for this book at all and gave up half way through as did not connect at all to the main characters and actually really disliked both of them intensely. As someone who lives with an alcoholic and the disruption and chaos it causes for the family I am afraid I had little and no sympathy for the characters.

You Left Early: A True Story of Love and Alcohol - Goodreads

Robert was charismatic, a playful character described by a close friend as “extraordinary fun, because what he really loved was misbehaving, in every way he could possibly think of”. There are a million love stories, and a million stories of addiction. This one is truly transcendent. It is at once a compelling portrait of a unique and charismatic man; a bittersweet reflection on an all-consuming love affair; and a completely honest and incredibly affecting guide to how the partner of an alcoholic can possibly survive when the disease rips both their lives apart. This is both a compelling portrait of a lifelong love affair, and an incredibly affecting guide to how the partner of a 'charismatic, infuriating, adorable, self-sabotaging’ alcoholic can find the strength to survive when the disease rips both their lives apart. Novelist and songwriter Louisa Young has written this week’s guest blog for us, based on her best-selling book of the same name. Here Louisa tells us her experience as someone who loved someone who drank too much alcohol. Here’s a glimpse into her heartbreaking love story. Yes - if another user has not requested a book, you can renew it 5 times for another three weeks each. Audio-visual items such as DVDs and Audio Books can also be kept beyond their due date for an additional charge. If you want to renew books or other items there are a number of ways to do this. Do I have to return items to the library I borrowed them from?Her first book, A Great Task of Happiness, was a biography of her grandmother Kathleen Scott, widow of Captain Scott of the Antarctic, published by Macmillan in 1995. [6] Then came three novels set in London and Egypt: Baby Love, Desiring Cairo and Tree of Pearls (Flamingo). Baby Love was listed for the Orange Prize for Fiction. [2] These were followed in 2002 by The Book of the Heart, a cultural history of the heart as it is seen through art, religion, love and anatomy. In 2007 she was a curatorial advisor for the Wellcome Foundation exhibition The Heart, which was inspired by her book. [7] Louisa Young was born in London, England, her father being the politician and writer Wayland Young (Lord Kennet), and her mother Elizabeth Young, Lady Kennet. She has five siblings, including the sculptor Emily Young. A heart-breaking memoir that takes you on an emotional journey with love and resilience leading the way

You Left Early: A True Story of Love and Alcohol - Goodreads You Left Early: A True Story of Love and Alcohol - Goodreads

The relationship between her and Theo is well written, at times, tearjerking. The story is about Effie and Theo's lives and the way their closeness changes each other.

Most touching was his love of bird watching. Utterly sad was his father's phobia against travel which meant he never saw his son's various extraordinary triumphs, such as being awarded a double first at Oxford or his piano recitals at Wigmore Hall. We all need our triumphs witnessed by those we love - or they don't feel completely real. Although there are a million and a half alcoholics in Britain, many people don’t really know what alcoholism is… Alcoholism – addiction – isn’t a racy lifestyle choice, not a decision, but an insidious and baffling condition which kills people.”