Managing Expectations

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What to expect

'A beautiful book: funny, honest, revealing, heartfelt and moving' - Adam Kay, bestselling author of This is Going to Hurt'

'Vital, heartfelt and surprising, these tales from a life are told with humour, style and intelligence.' - Graham Norton

'A wonderful memoir by a glorious writer: funny, poignant, profound. I gobbled it up in one joyous sitting.' - Elizabeth Day

'An absolute jewel of a book. Gloriously readable, hilarious, painful, acute, sharply recalled and vividly brought to life' - Stephen Fry


A dazzling 'tell-most' memoir: poignant and laugh-out-loud funny scenes from the life of actor Minnie Driver.

I love stories. I have mostly told other people's but now, in telling my own, I realize how all our stories are connected by that great leveller of acclaim, loss, fortitude, and fortune: being human.

When I look at my life from the alleged halfway point, some patterns are revealed: one, that the story does not necessarily begin or end where it should; two, happy endings are overrated. And three, happy endings are almost never the end.


This book is memoir-ish. A tell-most. Largely because there's a lot I don't remember, and a lot that's not worth talking about.

So, this is a collection of stories about how things not working out - worked out in the end. How reaching for the dream is easily more interesting, expansive, sad and funny than the dream itself coming true.


I really hope you enjoy it.
Love, Minnie x

Critics Review

  • Vital, heartfelt and surprising, these tales from a life are told with humour, style and intelligence.

    Graham Norton
  • A beautiful book: funny, honest, revealing, heartfelt and moving

    Adam Kay, bestselling author of This is Going to Hurt
  • A wonderful memoir by a glorious writer: funny, poignant, profound. I gobbled it up in one joyous sitting.

    Elizabeth Day
  • ‘A writer of true precision, wit and style… I was comforted, galvanized, touched’

    Lena Dunham
  • An absolute jewel of a book. Gloriously readable, hilarious, painful, acute, sharply recalled and vividly brought to life

    Stephen Fry

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