Other people Book

The publication in her nineties of Frances Partridge's diaries has been greeted as an unexpected literary discovery. Other People chronicles her life in the mid-1960s, when she is struggling to come to terms with existence after the deaths of both her husband Ralph and her son Burgo. 'I must forget myself utterly,' she writes, 'and sink into the concerns of other people.' This she does, an expert called in to deal with friends divorces and sadness, 'as they would call in a plumber'. An indefatigable traveller and relisher of conversation, Partridge is endlessly observant of people and nature, and passionate for ideas and for her friends. This passion for life in the face of adversity is one of the most attractive qualities of a remarkable woman the reader comes to know through this book.