A Life of One’s Own
- Author Joanna Biggs
- Narrator Hannah Curtis
- Publisher Orion
- Run Time 9 hours and 16 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Biography and non-fiction prose, Biography: writers, Creative writing and creative writing guides, Dating, relationships, living together and marriage: advice and issues, Family and health, Relationships and families: advice and issues.
Titles Purchased
- 1-5
- 6-10
- 11-15
- 16-20
- Over 20
Price p/Title
- €9.95
- €8.95
- €7.95
- €6.95
- €5.95
Listen to a sample
What to expect
'Acute and tender . . . alive with discovery and desire' Observer
'A meditation, by turns glorious and aching, on what it means to be a woman and to try to be free' Amia Srinivasan
'A gift to readers of all ages. Engaging . . . poignant . . . uplifting' Washington Post
'I adored this book . . . a generous, enlivening work, destined to be passed from friend to friend for a long time to come' Megan Hunter
In this intricate, intimate and dazzlingly original group biography, Joanna Biggs looks to eight revolutionary women writers who each sought freedom and intellectual fulfilment in their lifetimes and asks: why is it so important for women to read one another? By illuminating the motivations, desires and disappointments of Mary Wollstonecraft, George Eliot, Zora Neale Hurston, Virginia Woolf, Simone de Beauvoir, Sylvia Plath, Toni Morrison and Elena Ferrante, Biggs lights a way past the traditional goals and expectations of femininity and towards a life lived generously and joyfully for oneself.
Critics Review
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A beautiful, deeply philosophical book about reading as a form of existential consolation . . . wonderfully inconclusive, moving and original . . . a brilliant exploration of uncertainty and a compelling anti-guide to art and life
LITERARY REVIEW -
A meditation, by turns glorious and aching, on what it means to be a woman and to try to be free
AMIA SRINIVASAN, author of THE RIGHT TO SEX -
Acute and tender . . . alive with discovery and desire
OBSERVER -
Joanna Biggs is an unmissable writer. She gives new scope and fresh meaning to the idea of literary empathy
ANDREW O'HAGAN, author of MAYFLIES -
[Biggs] explores how exceptional writers of the past might guide today’s women in charting a path after life-altering events. The result is a moving biblio-memoir that’s a gift to readers of all ages. Engaging . . . poignant . . . uplifting
WASHINGTON POST -
I adored this book. I started turning down pages to note favourite parts, then found myself turning down almost every other page. It’s such a generous, enlivening work, destined to be passed from friend to friend for a long time to come
MEGAN HUNTER, author of THE END WE START FROM
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