FINAL DRAFT: REFLECTIONS ON LIFE
ISBN 9-780720-619614
Peter Owen Publishers
ROSEMARY FRIEDMAN signs off a long and successful writing career with Final Draft, a perceptive, moving and frequently witty collection of essays on what it means to be human. Throughout the author’s observations on such seminal subjects as truth, beauty, love, war and death, counter-balanced by the pleasures of walking in the park, lying in the bath or recalling her grandmother’s chicken soup, the reader will recognize the spirit of 16th century essayist, Michel de Montaigne.
Using her métier Friedman skilfully recreates a world of impressions on topics as diverse as sex, travel, music and kindness, while close observation of her subject’s hands, and how they employ them, reveals their owners’ secrets. She comments on the use of the cliché, our preoccupation with the cyber-world and the current obsession with ‘clean eating’, from the point of view of one who grew up during wartime rationing. She does not shrink from addressing such topics as growing old, failing health and the overwhelming sense of grief and loss engendered by the death of loved ones.
Friedman concludes that although we are not all able to leave an imprint upon the sands of time, one should embrace a wide range of experience and develop a balance of hope over despair. When we come to the end of this sagacious and insightful ‘final draft’ we realize that we know both the world – and ourselves – a little better.
Praise for Rosemary Friedman’s writing:
“As affecting as it is intelligent.” The Times
“Highly recommended for the sheer pleasure it gives.” Literary Review
“Sensitive and marvellously satisfying.” Financial Times
“Wonderfully funny and perceptive.” Cosmopolitan
Final Draft: Reflections on Life Peter Owen Publishers. Price: £14.99
