Böcker av Jane McCulloch

Jane McCulloch was once dubbed a 'Renaissance woman' by the great American soprano Jessye Norman, and her long career as a playwright, theatre and opera director, producer, lyricist, poet and latterly novelist is certainly testament to this. Jane's has been 'a life not without incident' - to quote her husband, the theatre director Toby Robertson. Growing up with fiercely gifted but troubled parents, she found herself with a front-row seat during a golden age of British theatre before forging her own career, running theatre companies both in the UK and abroad and working with the likes of Derek Jacobi and Judi Dench. Inheriting her father's ability to 'collect' celebrities (to the occasional exasperation of her children), Jane proves a born raconteur, describing, amongst other things, how she met Jackie Kennedy Onassis in an accidental Valium haze or managed to charm both Noël Coward and John Betjeman while still a teenager. Beyond the clear-eyed, often moving stories, however, what emerges is an inspirational tale of a woman's fight for her survival in a very tough profession.

Rawlings reluctantly agrees to write his memoir of the Sarajevo Siege which he and Mia, a war photographer, endured for three years. Mia later died in an explosion in Afghanistan which badly injured Rawlings. Suffering acute PTSD, his return to Sarajevo brings back traumatic memories, whilst a visit to Mia's family reveals some shocking surprises.

Rawlings, a noted foreign correspondent, arrives by boat at a vacant peaceful Thames mooring. He finds it is owned by an old friend, Isobel Mallinson who, on learning that he is writing about his war experiences, allows him to stay to finish his memoir. But little does the jaded reporter know that his life will take a traumatic turn once again.