Diana Athill's memoir of a life spent working with some of the charismatic characters who have dominated 20th-century literature. In a prose style of inimitable wit and rare candour, she recounts tales from a long life in publishing, including her reflections on editing writers such as V.S. Naipaul, Jean Rhys, Gitta Sereny and Brian Moore. She also provides an account of her own writing career, whcih includes the two critically-acclaimed works, "Instead of a Letter" and "After a Funeral".

Author Biography

Diana Athill was born in 1917. She worked for the BBC throughout the Second World War before helping Andre Deutsch establish the publishing company that bore his name. For almost fifty years she was widely regarded as one of the finest editors in London, as well as a considerable and unjustly neglected writer. Two of what she called her 'documentary' books, After a Funeral and Instead of a Letter, anticipated the modern memoir in their directness and intimacy. After a Funeral is issued by Granta to coincide with the publication of Stet. Diana Athill lives in London NW3.