{"title":"Blake Morrison","description":"\u003cp\u003eBlake Morrison's work elegantly traverses the realms of \u003cem\u003ememoir\u003c\/em\u003e and cultural reflection, offering readers poignant insights into personal and familial histories. His writing melds lyrical prose with thoughtful exploration, inviting contemplation on themes of memory, identity, and human connection.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWithin this collection, expect narratives that are both deeply intimate and widely resonant, straddling the boundaries between personal biography and broader cultural commentary. Morrison's voice is at once candid and poetic, making each book an immersive journey through the complexities of life and art.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"two-sisters-by-blake-morrison-9780008510534","title":"Two Sisters","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'Tender, vivid and achingly sad'\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eGUARDIAN, BOOK OF THE YEAR\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eTwo Sisters\u003c\/em\u003e publishes on the 30th anniversary of Blake Morrison’s ground-breaking book \u003cem\u003eAnd When Did You Last See Your Father?\u003c\/em\u003e which forged the way for a new genre of confessional memoir.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e‘She’s gone, that’s all, and though there’s no retrieving her I’d like to make sense of who she was and what she became. It wasn’t just that she changed over time. She could change from day to day. Drink made it worse but the origins went deeper. You never knew which you’d get, the kind and loving Gill or her doppelgänger. Two sisters.’\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBlake Morrison has lost a sister and a half-sister in recent years. Both are the subjects of this remarkable and heart-breaking memoir, along with a forensic examination of sibling relationships in history and literature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBlake’s sister Gill struggled with alcoholism for a large part of her life, and her shocking death is the starting point for \u003cem\u003eTwo Sisters\u003c\/em\u003e. Blake returns to their childhood to search for the origins of her later difficulties, and in doing so unearths the story behind his half-sister, Josie.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs he unravels these narratives, Blake deals movingly in the guilt and shame that will be familiar to every person who has struggled with addiction in their family. He is unflinching in doing so, and the result is a book which provides testament to that common struggle, as well as acknowledging the complex, hidden forces on which all our lives are based.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTwo Sisters\u003c\/em\u003e is the extraordinary new memoir from the chronicler of human frailty, Blake Morrison.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Arotahi Agency","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46628566532332,"sku":"9780008510534","price":34.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780008510534.jpg?v=1751931841"},{"product_id":"and-when-did-you-last-see-your-father-by-blake-morrison-9781783787654","title":"And When Did You Last See Your Father?","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAnd when did you last see your father? Was it when they burnt the coffin? Put the lid on it? When he exhaled his last breath? When he last sat up and said something? When he last recognized me? When he last smiled?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBlake Morrison's memoir is a candid, profoundly moving reflection on his relationship with his father, Arthur.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFollowing Arthur's cancer diagnosis, Blake witnesses the slow erosion of the man he once knew. As his father's battle with the disease unfurls, Blake reflects on growing up with Arthur in Yorkshire and their relationship in the years since he left home. From Arthur's penchant for saving money— and the lengths he'd go to do so—to his wayward behaviour on family holidays, Blake's fearless account resists an unwavering celebration of his father, showing him to be outlandish and recalcitrant, as well as capturing his humorous and caring qualities. The result is a rich, nuanced portrait of their relationship, capturing the accommodations and resentments that lie cloistered within familial love.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAnd When Did You Last See Your Father?\u003c\/i\u003e is a classic of the confessional memoir genre; a raw and shimmering interrogation of father-son relationships, masculinity, selfhood, and pride.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46997900329196,"sku":"9781783787654","price":27.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/2491373482823.jpg?v=1763197059"},{"product_id":"afterburn-by-blake-morrison-9781784746032","title":"Afterburn","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs touching as it is funny, a new collection charting love, loss and life's small wonders from Blake Morrison, the best-selling memoirist and poet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eLucid, tender and humane . . . One of the most formally agile and compassionate poets of our age\u003c\/em\u003e - Fiona Benson\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHere you are, on the balcony, the sea serenading you, the sun with its armful of light.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eAfterburn\u003c\/em\u003e, Blake Morrison returns to poetry, his first calling, to offer scenes from his own life and the lives of others. In psychology, 'afterburn' refers to the time before a past event is assimilated—an idea that resonates through these poems (which themselves linger after reading) about memory and our attempts to articulate, shape or contain it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThroughout the collection, not least in two extraordinary sequences—one about his sister, the other about Elizabeth Bishop—the poet sees with new eyes the turning points in a life's accidental course. What holds his wise, touching, melancholy yet joyful poems together are the small intimacies that bind us to others, under time's lengthening shadow—'you moved too fast for me to catch you \/ and so did the years.'\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePlayful and charming, sometimes rakishly so, \u003cem\u003eAfterburn\u003c\/em\u003e nevertheless reveals an open, and vulnerable, heart.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003chr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDistils the insights of a seasoned memoirist into images that linger long after the final page\u003c\/em\u003e - Julia Copus\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA master of the sonnet . . . I'm taking Afterburn to my desert island\u003c\/em\u003e - Hugo Williams\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47269552586988,"sku":"9781784746032","price":38.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/12075153482823.jpg?v=1769979577"},{"product_id":"on-memoir-by-blake-morrison-9780008827601","title":"On Memoir","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA delightful compendium of musings from the master of life writing, the much-loved Blake Morrison, for those who practise the art of memoir, and those who read it.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHallelujah! — now is the perfect time for Morrison’s book \u003cem\u003eOn Memoir\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cspan\u003eTHE TIMES\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eOn Memoir\u003c\/em\u003e is a gloriously freewheeling exploration of narrative non-fiction, its challenges, ethics and charms, and its power to move and change us.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom AI to Ethics to Politics to Sex, there is something for every reader and writer in this modern classic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGleaned from a lifetime as a passionate reader of others’ lives, as well as an unflinchingly honest chronicler of his own, Morrison’s A-Z is a trove of thoughtful literary exploration, amusing observations, and fascinating finds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Arotahi Agency","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47582893474028,"sku":"9780008827601","price":36.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780008827601-on-memoir.jpg?v=1777448117"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/blake-morrison.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}