Love from the Pink Palace

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What to expect

Memories of love, loss and cabaret through the London AIDS crisis, by IT'S A SIN's Jill Nalder

'Jill met the crisis head on . . . She held the hands of so many men. She lost them, and remembered them, and somehow kept going' Russell T Davies, creator of Channel 4's IT'S A SIN

When Jill Nalder arrived at drama school in London in the early 1980s, she was ready for her life to begin. With her band of best friends - of which many were young, talented gay men with big dreams of their own - she grabbed London by the horns: partying with drag queens at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, hosting cabarets at her glamorous flat, flitting across town to any jobs could get.

But soon rumours were spreading from America about a frightening illness being dubbed the 'gay flu', and Jill and her friends - spirited Juan Pablo, Jae with his beautiful voice, upbeat Dursley, and many others - found that their formerly carefree existence now under threat.

In this moving memoir, IT'S A SIN's Jill Nalder tells the true story of her life during the AIDS crisis, and that of friends and colleagues, doctors and nurses, activists and fundraisers. She recounts juggling a busy West End career while campaigning for AIDS awareness and research, educating herself and caring for the sick. Most of all, she shines a light on those who were stigmatised and shamed, and remembers those brave and beautiful boys who were lost too soon.

(P) 2022 Headline Publishing Group Ltd

Critics Review

  • I could not put [Jill’s] book down. She guides us through her career and her life, and what leaps off the page is her strength, her compassion and her unswerving loyalty to people who were sometimes afraid to live their real lives. I am so pleased that Jill has had the chance to tell her story. We should all ‘Be More Jill’

    Lesley Joseph, actor and broadcaster

  • A beautiful, raw, tender book remembering friendships in the eye of the storm

    Russell T Davies, creator of Channel 4's IT'S A SIN

  • As it happens, I was also a Jill in the eighties – but not half as good a Jill as real Jill

    Dawn French

  • Engrossing, heart-breaking and inspiring, this is the perfect companion piece to IT’S A SIN

    MATT CAIN, author of THE SECRET LIFE OF ALBERT ENTWISTLE

  • Took me right back. [Jill has] brought it all to life. A wonderful, wonderful work . . . Thank God for people like [Jill] who got up, stood up and said, “We need to do something about this.” . . . I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Obviously very sad, but bloody funny as well!

    Michael Ball

  • Love From the Pink Palace is a beautiful yet emotional rollercoaster… Jill writes with ease, this makes it surprising this is her first book. Each chapter is filled with light and dark. They appear so close to each other that you go from crying to full-on belly laughing.

    Richard Angell, Campaigns Director - Terrence Higgins Trust

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