You Left Early: A True Story of Love and Alcohol

Product Information

The Sunday after Robert died,I went, nervous, shaky, and alone, to his regular AA meeting. Two people there spoke about doubts they were having, saying that the people around them weren’t being supportive, theywere bored with their problems, that theydidn’tknow why they bothered coming to meetings, that nobody cared. At the end I was allowed to speak. Rather incoherently, I told them of Robert’s death, and said that even if they didn’t feel great about their own recovery today they had helped in his. Even though he had died. I told them how much what they did had helped me, and Robert’s son, even though theydidn’tknow we existed. I told them that there were thousands—millions?—of us at home, who they probably never thought of, but who valued AA hugely, that their contribution was priceless, because it supported not just the people in the meeting, but us at home as well, and I thanked them. And Ithank all of you too, who are dealing with your problem,who are reading this today. Inside, we wonder if it is our fault somehow, but addiction is nobody’s fault — addiction is partly genetic, partly psychological and partly circumstantial. But it is somebody’s responsibility — not ours. Theirs. Addicts, just like anybody, have choices. Perhaps both that novel and this memoir represent me clinging desperately to something that protects me from my greatest feat – to whit, that if I allow myself to perceive what many other believe, that an alcoholic’s behaviour is entirely his/her own fault, and that when Robert repeatedly told me that I’d chosen the wrong man he was for once telling the truth, I will be swamped by an impossible toxic flood of emotion because he was in fact a bastard and I am, still, a fool.

You Left Early: A True Story of Love and Alcohol - Goodreads You Left Early: A True Story of Love and Alcohol - Goodreads

But an essential read for those of us who know, have known or indeed will know an addict during the course of their life. Yes - if another user has not requested a book, you can renew it 5 times for another three weeks each. Audio-visual items such as DVDs and Audio Books can also be kept beyond their due date for an additional charge. If you want to renew books or other items there are a number of ways to do this. Do I have to return items to the library I borrowed them from?This is a heart-breaking story which really pulls at your heartstrings knowing what emotional turmoil she went through and what she did for the man she loved so much. It has really opened my eyes to the journey that people suffering with alcoholism go on and how this has a profound and devastating impact on those around them. This book will stay with me for a long time. A Great Task of Happiness: The Life of Kathleen Scott (Macmillan, 1995); reissued by The Hydraulic Press, Lulu, 2012 An important book, one that demands we rethink a culture of blame around alcoholism … moving, harrowing and tirelessly empathetic’ Daily Express

Borrow or request items from the library - Surrey County Council Borrow or request items from the library - Surrey County Council

If you are unable to get to a static library because of illness or disability we can arrange for books and audio material to be brought to you on a regular basis by a volunteer. It’s hard to accept that we are part of the problem we hate so much; we get embarrassed and ashamed. So we struggle along in silence not wanting to be disloyal to the person we love, or to let those closest to us see our pain. Fifty years ago, people didn’t used to talk about cancer. Now, we do Marathons in pink animal onesies to raise money for research. Can we please open our hearts, save our lives, and talk about alcoholism now? We need to fling up some windows, shine some light, and start this conversation out in the open. This is my way of doing that.Her novel "Twelve Months and a Day" was published in the UK by Borough Press in June 2022, and by Putnam in the US in January 2023, when it was People Magazine's Book of the Week Bloody hell. It is an extraordinarily powerful and moving work - for all. Especially those of us who know alcoholics who can't not be that. An achingly beautiful book which I devoured in two sittings. Amazing' Emma Thompson She has contributed to various anthologies, including I Am Heathcliff (ed. Kate Mosse), Underground; Tales for London (ed. Ann Bissell) and A Love Letter to Europe (Coronet). There was no cancer in him, and no alcohol in his bloodstream when,two years later, he died. I can’t write again about how it happened. It’s nearly seven years ago now but it still makes me weak to think about it. Robert was charismatic, a playful character described by a close friend as “extraordinary fun, because what he really loved was misbehaving, in every way he could possibly think of”.

You Left Early: A True Story of Love and Alcohol

I always knew my boyfriend drank too much. But loads of people drink too much. And when you’re young, you don’t know how it’s going to end up. Here’s a useful way of looking at it: it’s not what you drink, or how much; it’s why you drink, and what it does to you.

Beneath the surface lurk questions, such as: shouldn’t she have let him drop to the bottom? Did he really love her? And indeed, what is love? Young worked as a sub-editor, then as a freelance columnist and feature writer on national publications, including the Guardian, the Sunday Times, the Daily Express, Marie Claire, Tatler, Bike Magazine and Motorcycle International. She also worked at various stages as a despatch rider, a busker (double bass and vocals), a waitress, a kitchen-hand and a shop assistant. [5]