Description
Book Synopsis''Raw, unflinching, incredibly brave'' - BBC Woman''s Hour''Visceral and gripping'' Amy Liptrot, author of The OutrunComing Clean is a searingly honest memoir of loving an alcoholic both through the heaviest drinking years and into recovery. When Liz Fraser''s partner fell into a catastrophic vortex of depression and alcoholism, Liz found herself in a relentless hailstorm of lies, loneliness and fear, looking after their young child on her own, heartbroken, mentally shattered and with no idea what was happening or what to do.As she and her family moved between Cambridge, Venice and Oxford, she kept the often shocking truth entirely to herself for a long time, trying in vain to help her partner find a path to sobriety, until she herself finally broke from the trauma and started to speak out only to find she was one of hundreds experiencing similar things, also living in silence and fear. Part diary, part travel journal and part love letter,
Coming Cle
Trade Review
Visceral and gripping. -- Amy Liptrot * author of The Outrun *
Raw, unflinching, incredibly brave -- Anita Rani * BBC Woman's Hour *
An extraordinary book – deeply painful and loving. -- Adam Kay
[Coming Clean] sheds light on the reverberating effects of addiction and sobriety in this glowing memoir that unravels her experience falling in – and at times, out of – love with an alcoholic ... Fraser illuminates the complexities of loving an addict and why she 'didn’t run a mile' when his illness became apparent ... In the end, her wry prose, sharp self-reflection, and affinity for the uncertain reshapes her fraught experience into a nuanced story of resilience. This will be a beacon of hope for those whose lives have been touched by addiction. * Publishers Weekly *
A remarkably frank, emotionally charged foray into one woman’s battle to come to terms with her partner’s alcoholism; a desperate fight to protect herself and her child, and to create a world where they could be enough for one another. -- Charlotte Philby
A blistering account of damaged love, that will console anyone who lives with an addict. It's heartbreaking, eloquent and blackly funny. A book in search of the limits of compassion, finding none. An extraordinary achievement. -- Rhik Samadder * author of I Never Said I Loved You *
Liz Fraser’s memoir will break your heart into a million pieces and then gently squeeze it back together. Heart-rending and sad. A wonderful book. -- Charlie Condou
Table of Contents
Prologue Introduction Part One: Cambridge Part Two: Venice Part Three: Madness Part Four: Scandinavia Part Five: Shutting the Door Part Six: The Eternal Chaos of the Broken Mind Part Seven: Rock Bottom Part Eight: Sobriety Part Nine: Lockdown and Breakdown Part Ten: Recovery Epilogue Resources
