Rob Wilkins

'Always readable, illuminating and honest. It made me miss the real Terry.' - NEIL GAIMAN 'Sometimes joyfully, sometimes painfully, intimate . . . it is wonderful to have this closeup picture of the writer's working life.' - FRANK COTTRELL-BOYCE, OBSERVER 'Spins magic from mundanity in precisely the way Pratchett himself did.' - THE TELEGRAPH 'As frank, funny and unsentimental as anything its subject might have produced himself.' - MAIL ON SUNDAY -------- At the time of his death in 2015, award-winning and bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett was working on his finest story yet - his own. The creator of the phenomenally bestselling Discworld series, Terry Pratchett was known and loved around the world for his hugely popular books, his smart satirical humour and the humanity of his campaign work. But that's only part of the picture. Before his untimely death, Terry was writing a memoir: the story of a boy who aged six was told by his teacher that he would never amount to anything and spent the rest of his life proving him wrong. For Terry lived a life full of astonishing achievements: becoming one of the UK's bestselling and most beloved writers, winning the prestigious Carnegie Medal and being awarded a knighthood. Now, the book Terry sadly couldn't finish has been written by Rob Wilkins, his former assistant, friend and now head of the Pratchett literary estate. Drawing on his own extensive memories, along with those of the author's family, friends and colleagues, Rob unveils the full picture of Terry's life - from childhood to his astonishing writing career, and how he met and coped with what he called the 'Embuggerance' of Alzheimer's disease. A deeply moving and personal portrait of the extraordinary life of Sir Terry Pratchett, written with unparalleled insight and filled with funny anecdotes, this is the only official biography of one of our finest authors. 'Of all the dead authors in the world, Terry Pratchett is the most alive.' - JOHN LLOYD

The Official Biography

Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes

(Bre)anne✨

‘Rob, what’s my biggest indulgence?’

I had about a second to think about it before Terry cut me off.

When we next see him he will be wearing a pair of long trousers. And, of course, reading.

When I think of Terry competently mending library books, I reflect on the times when I would be kneeling on the Chapel floor, wrapping up his Christmas gifts for him while he stood above me with his arms folded, saying, ‘I’m always deeply suspicious of a man who can wrap a present well.’ He knew far more in this area, clearly, than he let on.

'That damn book was a half-brick in the path of the bicycle of my life,' Terry later said of 

A map at the front of a book was often an indication of quality in the product, wasn't it? It promised you were going places.

Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes quotes

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