'Spectacular. I can't stop thinking about it. Louisa Young is a beautiful, beautiful writer' Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of The Last Act of Love
This brutal, beautiful memoir from award-winning novelist Louisa Young is a heartbreaking portrayal of love, grief and the merciless grip of addiction.
Louisa first met Robert Lockhart when they were both 17. Their stop-start romance lasted decades, in which time he became a celebrated composer and she, an acclaimed novelist. Always snapping at their heels was Robert's alcoholism, a helpless, ferocious dependency that affected his personality before crippling and finally, despite five years of hard-won sobriety, killing him.
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 a hugely important book - raw and unflinching but also uplifting and elegiac, it should be essential reading for anybody who's ever lost someone they loved.



![Manchan, Magan IRISH INTEREST Magan Manchan: Listen to the Land Speak [2022] hardback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/manchan-magan-magan-manchan-listen-to-the-land-speak-2022-hardback-57197364117843_{width}x.jpg?v=1743077146)

![Niland, Conor SPORT Conor Niland: The Racket [2024] paperback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/niland-conor-conor-niland-the-racket-2024-paperback-58820653515091_{width}x.jpg?v=1760353359)
![Magan, Manchan IRISH INTEREST Manchan Magan: THIRTY TWO WORDS FOR FIELD [2020] hardback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/magan-manchan-manchan-magan-thirty-two-words-for-field-2020-hardback-1127071064_{width}x.jpg?v=1738876983)
![Purcell, Rozanna IRISH INTEREST Rozanna Purcell: The Hike Life [2023] hardback](http://chaptersbookstore.com/cdn/shop/files/purcell-rozanna-rozanna-purcell-the-hike-life-2023-hardback-59371308384595_{width}x.jpg?v=1728459680)