A Love Letter to Europe An Outpouring of Love and Sadness from Our Writers, Thinkers and Artists

Margaret Drabble, Melvyn Bragg, Simon Callow, Tony Robinson, Pete Townshend, Tracey Emin — 2019

Great writers, artists, musicians and thinkers in British life say what Europe means to them: an outpouring of love and sadness. With pieces from Frank Cottrell Boyce, Melvyn Bragg, Margaret Drabble, Alan Hollinghurst, Will Hutton, Holly Johnson, Penelope Lively, Jonathan Meades, Deborah Moggach, Alan Moore, Jackie Morris, Cathy Rentzenbrink, Chris Riddle, Tony Robinson, Pete Townshend, Kate Williams, Michael Wood and many more... As Britain pulls away from Europe great British writers come together to give voice to their innermost feelings. Contributing essays that contain some of their finest writings and perspectives very different to the ones given in news outlets. The creative community here has its say on Brexit. Novelists, artists, comedians, historians, biographers, nature writers, film writers, travel writers, people young and old and from an extraordinary range of backgrounds. Most are famous perhaps because they have won the Booker or other literary prizes, written bestsellers, changed the face of popular culture or sold millions of records. Others are not yet household names but write with depth of insight and feeling. There is some extraordinary writing in this book. Some of these pieces are expressions of love of particular places in Europe. Some are true stories, some nostalgic, many hopeful. There are hilarious pieces. There are cries of pain and regret. Some pieces are quietly devastating. All are passionate. They show how Europe has helped us to expand our emotional, intellectual and artistic bandwidth, and hopefully will continue to do just that. Contributors include: Mary Beard, Jeffrey Boakye, Melvyn Bragg, Simon Callow, B. Catling, Shami Chakrabarti, Chris Cleave, Frank Cottrell Boyce, William Dalrymple, Lindsey Davis, Margaret Drabble, Tracey Emin, Michel Faber, Sebastian Faulks, Neil Gaiman, Evelyn Glennie, Alan Hollinghurst, Will Hutton, Holly Johnson, Ruth Jones, A.L. Kennedy, Hermione Lee, Prue Leith, Roger Lewis, Penelope Lively, Richard Mabey, Jonathan Meades, Andrew Miller, Deborah Moggach, Alan Moore, Paul Morley, Jackie Morris, Charles Nicholl, Irenosen Okojie, Onjali Q. Raúf, Chris Riddell, Tony Robinson, J.K. Rowling, Rhik Samadder, Isy Suttie, Sandi Toksvig, Pete Townshend, Kate Williams and Michael Wood.

Reviews

Rose Stanley@roseofoulesfame

Jan 4, 2022

I'm well aware that part of the reason I like this is because it's an echo chamber for me (although I didn't agree with everyone's take, it's very clearly a book for Us Traitors What Voted Remain), and there is also the fact that a lot of the stories come across as super-privileged... BUT The thing that really struck me while reading this was the fact that, one day, a bunch of Eton-and-Oxford-educated Tory unprintables decided that they got to be the men of the people while all artists and intellectuals were deemed to be inherently poncy liberals who were out of touch with reality and I'm left thinking... Who keeps making it so it's so mm mm difficult to be an artist unless you have some kind of privilege? Who keeps society structured in such a way that art is viewed as something for the middle classes upwards? And how exactly does BrExit remove barriers to being able to study, work and travel in places that help expose us to other cultures and widen our worldview? Anyway, four stars, would reread.