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A captivating exploration of alcoholism and literature by the author of The Lonely City; ‘beguiling, beautifully written … brilliant and original’ - Sunday Times
Why were so many authors of the greatest works of literature consumed by alcoholism? In The Trip to Echo Spring, Olivia Laing takes a journey across America, examining the links between creativity and drink in the overlapping work and lives of six extraordinary men: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, John Berryman, John Cheever and Raymond Carver.
From Hemingway’s Key West to Williams’s New Orleans, Laing pieces together a topographical map of alcoholism, and strips away the tangle of mythology to reveal the terrible price creativity can exert.
“One of the best books I’ve read about the creative uses of adversity: frightening but perversely inspiring”
Hilary Mantel
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“A work of art, with a voice and a mood all its own.”
nick Hornby
“Original, brave and very moving … Her insights shine with beauty yet are shaded by sympathy and compassion”
observer
“A terrific writer”
the Times
“Full of insight, compassion and unexpected beauty”
guardian
Olivia Laing
Olivia Laing is an internationally acclaimed writer and critic. They’re the author of eight books, including Funny Weather, Everybody and the Sunday Times number one bestseller The Garden Against Time. Laing’s first novel, Crudo, won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and in 2018 they were awarded the Windham-Campbell Prize for non-fiction. They’re an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Arts and their books have been translated into twenty-one languages. Their latest novel is The Silver Book.
@olivialanguage | olivialaing.com
