The Cut that Wouldn’t Heal

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What to expect

Bloomsbury presents The Cut that Wouldn't Heal written and read by William Leith.

Deeply moving ... A triumph' Justin Webb
'What might, in other hands, have been simply macabre becomes peculiarly mesmerising' Craig Brown, The Mail on Sunday

Ten seconds before my father’s death, I have a premonition – that the breath he is taking will be his last.

William Leith’s childhood was marked by his father’s absences and as a consequence their relationship has always been a troubled one. Now, as his father lies dying, William reflects on the connections and ruptures that have marked their shared history. Can he ever really understand his father? Is there an explanation for the physical distance and emotional chasm that his father has maintained between them? And what was he running away from?

Darkly comical and told with searing honesty, The Cut that Wouldn’t Heal is a moving memoir about the pain of abandonment, grief and regret.

Critics Review

PRAISE FOR THE CUT THAT WOULDN'T HEAL: The Cut That Wouldn’t Heal should be depressing, but it is in fact weirdly exhilarating, largely because the author tracks his own feelings, however untoward, with a darkly comical precision … What might, in other hands, have been simply macabre becomes peculiarly mesmerising.
The Mail on Sunday
Honest without oversharing, William Leith is such a perfect writer … The Cut that Wouldn’t Heal is a triumph and deeply moving. Wonderful.
Justin Webb
William Leith is a very fine writer, defined by a compulsive honesty: not the heavily-curated oversharing of social media culture, but the real, uncomfortable thing. This book, which deals in the sometimes absurdist agonies of grief – and indeed of life – is his best yet.
Laura Thompson
A reckoning with the past by a writer whose past offers plenty to reckon with … Pacily written … satisfyingly structured
Times Literary Supplement
An intensely readable study of love and regret.
Ian Jack
As mysterious and unsettling as a Cold War thriller – the search for self amidst the puzzle of a brilliant absentee father.
Strong Words Magazine
PRAISE FOR THE TRICK: The Trick takes all of Leith’s writing habits – his mazy streams of consciousness (few writers are quite so enamoured of, or good at, watching themselves think) and his love of axiom – and, if anything, ups the ante... Hugely enjoyable.
Observer
PRAISE FOR THE HUNGRY YEARS: Compulsively readable. I gulped it down in a couple of greedy bites ... It is a powerful memoir ... it has the unusual qualities of heart and daring. In the end, these are what stay inside you.
Daily Telegraph

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