Secrets & Lives: Middle England Revealed

by Mary Loudon

' A] Canterbury Tale for our times ... Everyone has something of value to impart, even the humblest; in some, there is a shining nobility.' Valerie Grove, The Times 'There is great ambition and equal skill in successfully communicating nothing more, nothing less, than the stuff of humanity. A real-life soap opera going on in Oxfordshire, with better stories by far than fiction' Bel Mooney, "The Times" 'As a writer, Mary Loudon has a precious gift. She can listen. And so, people tell her things they might otherwise lock inside their hearts. She follows in the footsteps of Tony Parker in Britain and Studs Terkel in America. Those men, like her, had ears as sharp as scalpels. At the end of her stories, the cliches have collapsed. Under the beeswaxed middle-class veneer, emotion eats into the envy, pride, grief, ambition, despair. Above all, this is a chronicle of people's dreams; their hopes of what might have been and their regrets about what could have been.' Paul Barker, "The Independent"

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Mary Loudon is the prize-winning author of four non-fiction books, published to great acclaim around the world. She has also contributed essays and poetry to six anthologies. My House Is Falling Down is her first novel.

Mary has won four writer’s prizes, as well as being short-listed for MIND Book of the Year and long-listed for Richard & Judy Book of The Year. An experienced public speaker and broadcaster, she has made over 200 radio and TV appearances. She is a Fellow of the British-American Project and has been a judge for the Whitbread Prize and Costa Book Awards.

She is a popular public speaker and broadcaster, and has made numerous radio and television appearances.

Mary was born in November 1966 and lives with her family in Wantage and mid-Wales.

www.maryloudon.com

Reviews

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it gave me a lot of insight. Inspiration, ideas and much thought-provoking, bounced off the pages and it really helped me to understand certain aspects of English life, and how they relate to me also. A proper worthy read, I reckon..