Blue Nights

From one of our most powerful writers, a classic work of stunning frankness about losing a daughter.

‘Her prose is a thing of beauty’ Daisy Goodwin, Sunday Times

‘Where the book is most successful – and most poignant – is in the viciously honest picture Didion draws of a lonely, encroaching old age … your heart breaks for her increasing and incurable frailty’ Julie Myerson, Observer

Reviews for ‘A Year of Magical Thinking’:

‘It is the most awesome performance of both participating in, and watching, an event. Even though Didion does not allow herself to break down, only a terribly controlled reader will resist doing the same.’ John Freeman, Independent

‘Ultimately, and unexpectedly for a book about illness and death, this is a wonderfully life affirming book.’ Lisa O’Kelly, Observer

‘Searing, informative and affecting. Don’t leave life without it.’ Financial Times

‘This is a beautiful and devastating book by one of the finest writers we have. Didion has always been a precise, humane and meticulously truthful writer, but on the subject of death she becomes essential.’ Zadie Smith

Joan Didion is the author of five novels and seven previous books of nonfiction: among them the great portraits of a decade in essays, ‘Sentimental Journeys’, ‘The White Album’, and ‘Slouching Towards Bethlehem’. Her previous book, ‘The Year of Magical Thinking’ was an international bestseller.