[Joan Bakewell's] new book is a joy
Psychologies
A wry analysis of the world she will leave
- Rachel Cooke, Observer
Heartfelt and fiendishly smart
Sunday Telegraph
Companionable and insightful . . . by turns entertaining, frank and - when dealing with death and loss - unflinching. It is, then, true to the spirit of a most accomplished woman, who has always had the knack of making whatever she does look easy. When it comes to facing down old age with such style and honesty, that is perhaps the most impressive achievement of all
Herald
She writes as sensitively as George Orwell . . . Bakewell is an advertisement for active survival . . . long live life, say I, if it produces books as brave as these
- John Sutherland, New Statesman
What makes Bakewell so thoroughly engaging is her ongoing thirst for knowledge . . . Bakewell has added an elegant and elegiac pause to the many things already left behind
- Cary Gee, Tribune
Warm, insightful and always entertaining, Bakewell reflects on her upbringing, her politics, her friendships, her affair with Harold Pinter and contemplates what she will leave behind
Daily Express