This Ragged Grace A Memoir of Recovery and Renewal
- 6 Jun 2024
- 9781838857493
- £10.99
- 256 pp
- 129×198mm
- 1 Jun 2023
- 9781838857479
- £8.79
- 256 pp
- 1 Jun 2023
- 9781838857486
- £25
- 8 hrs 48 min
In a few words
A beautiful, brave, ideas-rich, open and electric reckoning – with addiction, loss, self and hope in your twenties and thirties
In a few words
A beautiful, brave, ideas-rich, open and electric reckoning – with addiction, loss, self and hope in your twenties and thirties
In a few words
A beautiful, brave, ideas-rich, open and electric reckoning – with addiction, loss, self and hope in your twenties and thirties
An intimate, raw, empathetic story of loss, recovery, love and human fragility. This Ragged Grace is a beautifully written and intricately observed masterpiece of a memoir
Dolly Alderton
An extraordinary, electrifying book about loss, chaos, addiction and death, and the wild work of staying tender in the face of it
Olivia Laing
An intimate, raw, empathetic story of loss, recovery, love and human fragility. This Ragged Grace is a beautifully written and intricately observed masterpiece of a memoir
Dolly Alderton
An extraordinary, electrifying book about loss, chaos, addiction and death, and the wild work of staying tender in the face of it
Olivia Laing
An intimate, raw, empathetic story of loss, recovery, love and human fragility. This Ragged Grace is a beautifully written and intricately observed masterpiece of a memoir
Dolly Alderton
An extraordinary, electrifying book about loss, chaos, addiction and death, and the wild work of staying tender in the face of it
Olivia Laing
More about
the book
A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2023: BIOGRAPHY
This Ragged Grace tells the story of Octavia’s journey through recovery from alcohol addiction, and the parallel story of her father’s descent into Alzheimer’s. Over the course of seven years life continues to unfold. Paths are abandoned, people fall ill, waters get choppy, seemingly impossible things are navigated without the old fixes.
As Octavia moves between London, Stromboli, New York, Cornwall and Margate, each place offers something new but ultimately always delivers the same message: that wherever you go, you take yourself with you.
More about
the book
I kept putting myself in danger, and I couldn’t make it stop. It rarely felt like a choice, though, of course, it was. It’s only the death drive, my dear, Freud would likely tell me, if I lay my body down on his carpet covered couch. Everybody needs a little oblivion. Besides, what is the fantasy of the knight on a white charger if not an abandonment wish? A desire to be rescued from your own life by a story.
This Ragged Grace tells the story of Octavia’s journey to recovery from alcohol addiction, and the parallel story of her father’s descent into Alzheimer’s. Looking back over this time, each of the seven chapters explores the feelings and experiences of the corresponding year of recovery, tracing the shift in emotion and understanding that comes with the deepening connection to this new way of life. Over the course of this seven-year period, life continues to unfold. Paths are abandoned, people fall ill, waters get choppy, seemingly impossible things are navigated without the old fixes. As Octavia moves between London, the island of Stromboli, New York, Cornwall and Margate, each place offers something new but ultimately always delivers the same message: that wherever you go, you take yourself with you.
More about
the book
A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2023: BIOGRAPHY
This Ragged Grace tells the story of Octavia’s journey through recovery from alcohol addiction, and the parallel story of her father’s descent into Alzheimer’s. Looking back over this time, each of the seven chapters explores the feelings and experiences of the corresponding year of her recovery, tracing the shift in emotion and understanding that comes with the deepening connection to this new way of life. Over the course of this seven-year period, life continues to unfold. Paths are abandoned, people fall ill, waters get choppy, seemingly impossible things are navigated without the old fixes.
As Octavia moves between London, the island of Stromboli, New York, Cornwall and Margate, each place offers something new but ultimately always delivers the same message: that wherever you go, you take yourself with you.
The intelligence of the writing is a kind of grace in itself - light and deep and beautiful
Deborah Levy
A beautifully written and intellectual account of a woman coming to terms with herself . . . Heartbreakingly tender . . . Her sensitivity to the world is what makes the writing so beautiful and, ultimately, hopeful. Death hovers on every page and yet this book is full of life
This Ragged Grace is smart and tender, and honest in that raw way that gets you at the back of your throat. It is slowly revealing of the world, and an avalanche of feeling, all at the same time. A towering act of grace, in fact
Emilie Pine
The tension between what we remember and what we forget is at the core of this evocative memoir . . . Regular listeners of Literary Friction, the podcast that Bright co-hosts, will be familiar with her intelligent yet deeply felt style. A lover of art as well as literature, she uses the works of Louise Bourgeois and Sigmund Freud to trace her story of healing . . . immensely poignant
The intelligence of the writing is a kind of grace in itself - light and deep and beautiful
Deborah Levy
A beautifully written and intellectual account of a woman coming to terms with herself . . . Heartbreakingly tender . . . Her sensitivity to the world is what makes the writing so beautiful and, ultimately, hopeful. Death hovers on every page and yet this book is full of life
This Ragged Grace is smart and tender, and honest in that raw way that gets you at the back of your throat. It is slowly revealing of the world, and an avalanche of feeling, all at the same time. A towering act of grace, in fact
Emilie Pine
The tension between what we remember and what we forget is at the core of this evocative memoir . . . Regular listeners of Literary Friction, the podcast that Bright co-hosts, will be familiar with her intelligent yet deeply felt style. A lover of art as well as literature, she uses the works of Louise Bourgeois and Sigmund Freud to trace her story of healing . . . immensely poignant
The intelligence of the writing is a kind of grace in itself - light and deep and beautiful
Deborah Levy
A beautifully written and intellectual account of a woman coming to terms with herself . . . Heartbreakingly tender . . . Her sensitivity to the world is what makes the writing so beautiful and, ultimately, hopeful. Death hovers on every page and yet this book is full of life
This Ragged Grace is smart and tender, and honest in that raw way that gets you at the back of your throat. It is slowly revealing of the world, and an avalanche of feeling, all at the same time. A towering act of grace, in fact
Emilie Pine
The tension between what we remember and what we forget is at the core of this evocative memoir . . . Regular listeners of Literary Friction, the podcast that Bright co-hosts, will be familiar with her intelligent yet deeply felt style. A lover of art as well as literature, she uses the works of Louise Bourgeois and Sigmund Freud to trace her story of healing . . . immensely poignant
Octavia Bright
View profileOctavia Bright is a writer, presenter and broadcaster. She co-hosted Literary Friction, the literary podcast and NTS Radio show, with Carrie Plitt. She presents programmes for BBC R4 including World Book Café and Open Book, and hosts literary events for bookshops, publishers and festivals – such as Cheltenham Literature Festival and events for The Southbank Centre. Her writing has been published in many places, including the White Review, Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, Wasafiri, Stylist, Guardian and the Sunday Times. She has a PhD from UCL where she wrote about hysteria and desire in Spanish cinema.
@octaviabright_ | octavia.bright
Octavia Bright
View profileOctavia Bright is a writer, presenter and broadcaster. She co-hosted Literary Friction, the literary podcast and NTS Radio show, with Carrie Plitt. She presents programmes for BBC R4 including World Book Café and Open Book, and hosts literary events for bookshops, publishers and festivals – such as Cheltenham Literature Festival and events for The Southbank Centre. Her writing has been published in many places, including the White Review, Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, Wasafiri, Stylist, Guardian and the Sunday Times. She has a PhD from UCL where she wrote about hysteria and desire in Spanish cinema.
@octaviabright_ | octavia.bright
Octavia Bright
View profileOctavia Bright is a writer, presenter and broadcaster. She co-hosted Literary Friction, the literary podcast and NTS Radio show, with Carrie Plitt. She presents programmes for BBC R4 including World Book Café and Open Book, and hosts literary events for bookshops, publishers and festivals – such as Cheltenham Literature Festival and events for The Southbank Centre. Her writing has been published in many places, including the White Review, Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, Wasafiri, Stylist, Guardian and the Sunday Times. She has a PhD from UCL where she wrote about hysteria and desire in Spanish cinema.
@octaviabright_ | octavia.bright
