Precious Lives

A brilliant follow-up toHidden Lives, Margaret Forster's most personal book yet takes up the story of her gritty, northern father, Arthur, intertwined with that of her sister-in-law, Marion, who died of cancer at almost half the age of the 96 year-old Arthur.

Margaret Forster's father was not a man to answer questions - least of all questions about life and death, so she attempts to answer them for herself. As Forster looks back at Arthur's life and indomitable character, she evokes incidents from her childhood, his working life and stubborn old age, trying to make sense of their largely unspoken relationship, and of his tenacious hold on life, and on his family.

Arthur and Marion's lives were ordinary, and apparently unremarkable, but, when faced with death, lives like these become strangely precious.

Born in Carlisle, Margaret Forster was the author of many successful and acclaimed novels, includingHave the Men Had Enough?,Lady's Maid,Diary of an Ordinary Woman,IsThere Anything You Want?, Keeping the World Away,OverandThe Unknown Bridesmaid. She also wrote bestselling memoirs Hidden Lives, Precious Livesand, most recently,My Life in Houses and biographies. She was married to writer and journalist Hunter Davies and lived in London and the Lake District. She died in February 2016, just before her last novel,How to Measure a Cow, was published.

An intimate, true and wonderful memoir about living and dying