Phyllida Law

Following Phyllida Law's wonderful and acclaimedNOTES TO MY MOTHER-IN-LAW - - which comically and tenderly documented the author's relationship with her husband's mother who lived with the family for 17 years - we now have a chronicle of Phyllida's relationship with her own mother who suffered from dementia. Recently widowed, bringing up her own two daughters (actresses Emma and Sophie Thompson) and working as a successful actress herself, Phyllida went up and down to Scotland to spend as much time with her ailing mother as she could manage. During the period she kept a lively and frank journal noting many of the sad yet funny examples of her mother's faltering grip on reality. The journal includes reminiscences of her own childhood and the tragic death of her only brother.This book promises to be just as warm and moving as her first and will also be beautifully enhanced by the author's illustrations.

Dementia, Ma and Me

How Many Camels Are There in Holland?

From the daily notes written to a beloved mother-in-law who could no longer hear comes a hilarious and warm portrait of daily life Phyllida Law's mother-in-law Annie lived with her family for 17 years and was picture-book perfect. It took a while before the family realized that Annie was increasingly deaf. So Phyllida began to write out the day's gossip at the kitchen table, putting her notes by Annie's bed before going to hers. One night her husband muttered that she spent so much time each evening writing to Annie she could have written a book. Here it is—a book full of the delights of a warm and loving household. Of the cat being sick after overindulging in spiders, the hunt for cleaning products from the dawn of time, mysteriously malfunctioning hearing aids, an unusual and potentially hilarious use for garlic, and the sad disappearance of coconut logs from the local candy shop. It's about the special place at the heart of a home held by a woman born in another age, a woman who polished the brass when it was "looking red at her;" who still bore a scar on her hands from being hit by her employer; and who held the beloved homemaking skills of a bygone age.

Notes to My Mother-in-Law

Michael Blakemore

Michael Codron

Benjamin Whitrow

Robert Flemyng

John Quayle

Gabrielle Drake

Glyn Grain

Mary Chilton

Robert Bathurst

Mandy Perryment

Savoy Theatre (London, England)

A New Comedy

Noises Off

‘My mother-in-law Annie lived with us for 17 years and was picture-book perfect.’

Notes to my Mother-in-Law

Phyllida Law

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