PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
DIANA ATHILL was born in 1917. She helped Andre Deutsch establish the publishing company that bore his name and worked as an editor for Deutsch for four decades. Athill's distinguished career as an editor is the subject of her acclaimed memoir Stet, which is also published by Granta Books, as are five further volumes of memoirs, Instead of a Letter, After a Funeral, Yesterday Morning, Make Believe, Somewhere Towards the End, a novel, Don't Look at Me Like That, and a collection of letters, Instead of a Book. In January 2009, she won the Costa Biography Award for Somewhere Towards the End, and was presented with an OBE. She lives in London.
The vivid intensity and Athill's joy at being young and alive and abroad make [A Florence Diary] perfect for travellers of any age -- Jane Shilling * Daily Mail * A short, sweet account of Diana Athill's 1947 trip to Florence in which the venerable writer turns her gimlet gaze on everything from Florentine pastries to dull, fellow British tourists. The perfect stocking filler for armchair travellers -- Claire Allfree, Best Non Fiction of 2016 * Metro * This wonderful book is as near to time travel as anyone could wish and probably just as fun -- Gillian Reynolds * Daily Telegraph * A delight: as good as time travel -- This week in books, chosen by Gillian Reynolds * Sunday Telegraph * The buoyant, naïve tone of the diary is endearing, and the impressions of the city have a period interest enhanced by the book's black-and-white photographs of familiar Italian views -- Lindsay Duguid * TLS * Athill records vibrant impressions, [...] each one informed by a sense of wonder that only an outsider can possess -- Christian House * Observer * A delectable time capsule, [Athill] brings alive the liberation, luck and drama of those Italian days * New York Times *
