The Presence - Softcover

Abse, Dannie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099531860 ISBN 13: 9780099531869

Publisher: Vintage Books, 2008

Synopsis

A distinguished poet’s moving memoir of his wife, who died in a car accident in 2005. It is both a record of present grief and a portrait of a marriage that lasted more than fifty years.
From the Hardcover edition.

About this title

About the Author:

Dannie Abse was for many years a chest specialist in a London teaching hospital. A poet, reviewer and playwright, he has written and edited more than fifteen books of poetry, as well as books about medicine and also fiction. He is the author of Ash on a Young Man's Sleeve and several autobiographical volumes, including Goodbye, Twentieth Century, which was published in 2001 to critical acclaim. He died, at the age of 91, in September 2014.

Review:

"A supremely fresh and vital performance, matching profound emotion with witty observation... This is a truly marvellous book" * Independent * "Abse's diary is a remarkable and tender document" * Sunday Times * "For all its painful honesty, [this is] a surprisingly joyful and compelling book... Imbued with all the best qualities of what it means to human and in love" * Independent on Sunday * "The Presence is a fragment of autobiography written from the most private part of a poet's heart, with a pen dipped in blood and tears. That it transcends this to become both elegiac and celebratory, to inhabit both the suffered present and the beloved past, places it almost beyond the scope of routine criticism." * Daily Telegraph * "Hauntingly poignant... One hopes that he comes before long to share the happiness this wise, funny, heart rending little book brings to its readers" * Daily Telegraph *

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0099531860
• ISBN 13: 9780099531869
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304