Description
Book SynopsisShortlisted for the 2019 PEN Ackerley Prize Gloucester Crescent is a curving, leafy street, tucked between Camden Town and Primrose Hill. It's unremarkable in many ways, unless you notice the lady in the van, and the familiar-looking residents crossing the road ... This is the story of the Miller family and their circle of brilliant, idealistic and intellectual friends in London in the 60s, 70s and 80s. We follow William through the ups and downs of childhood, as he explores the homes of his famous neighbours, attends dramatic rehearsals with his dad Jonathan Miller, gets drugs and advice from the philosopher A. J. Ayer's wife, and tries to watch the moon landing with Alan Bennett and a room full of writers. Hilarious, and at times heart-breaking, this is also about how we grow up and move on - and what happens when we come back. Not only a picture of an extraordinary time in Britain's cultural history - and a hitherto unseen portrait of some of the brightest minds of a generation - this book tells the funny, tender and moving story of a young boy trying to carve out his own identity.
Trade ReviewStuffed with hilarious literary gossip and anecdote * Observer *
I was charmed by this evocative and tender portrait of an extraordinary street and its extraordinary inhabitants -- Deborah Moggach
William Miller is not just writing about a street. This is about family, love, art and the whole of life, and it's wonderful -- Jeremy Vine, BBC2
A wonderful insight into life surrounded by the culturati of the late 20th century - funny, wise and finely observed through glasses that are far from rose-tinted. -- Shaun Bythell, author of A Diary of a Bookseller
A love letter to a unique and special time, place and family -- Dermot O'Leary
It's a brilliant book, a touching, funny view of life for the family of a remarkable person who, like many remarkable people, could be hard to live with. -- Kirstie Allsopp
has a charm of its own. His portrait of his father, exasperated yet tinged with affection, is beautifully drawn, and he's particularly good at putting himself in his own childhood shoes. -- John Preston * Mail on Sunday *
