Several years after her marriage collapsed, Anne Theroux saw her ex-husband being interviewed on television. Writers, Paul Theroux declared, need to marry “a specific type of woman – protective and self-sacrificing types… a secretary, mother, guardian of the gate”. In response, she sent him a note: “If you had given me the job description in advance, I wouldn’t have applied.”
The Year of the End, her memoir of her disintegrating marriage, is “wise and vivid”, said Fiona Sturges in The i Paper. From the moment the couple met in Uganda in 1967, it was clear that Paul’s career was to take precedence: he insisted that Anne give up her cherished teaching job, and though she subsequently worked as a BBC radio presenter, she was often left to cope with their young sons (Louis and Marcel) while he travelled the world, having frequent affairs.
The book is based on her diaries from 1990, when the two separated, and the entries find her pinballing between longing and fury. However, retribution isn’t the point of this book: it’s a “funny and self-deprecating” portrait of a woman “learning how to be alone”.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Revenge it may not be, said Rachel Cooke in The Observer, but it is a last word of sorts. It’s clear why the author was dazzled by her dashing young husband, but she also sees him very clearly – “his amateur dramatics, his sentimentality, his hypocrisy”. Professional travellers, she notes, tend to be charming and adventurous, but also distant and brutal.
Some of the diary entries are a bit Pooterish, but the overall tone is “dignified and moving”. Indeed, said Paul Perry in The Irish Independent: though deception and betrayal are the watchwords of this “candid” memoir, Anne Theroux – who went on to become a relationship therapist – shows great restraint. “Good for her, one thinks.”
Icon Books 256pp £12.99; The Week Bookshop £9.99
The Week Bookshop
To order this title or any other book in print, visit theweekbookshop.co.uk, or speak to a bookseller on 020-3176 3835. Opening times: Monday to Saturday 9am-5.30pm and Sunday 10am-4pm.
-
SNAP aid uncertain amid court rulings, politicsSpeed Read Funding for additional SNAP benefits ran out over the weekend
-
The 5 best political thriller series of the 21st centuryThe Week Recommends Viewers can binge on most anything, including espionage and the formation of parliamentary coalitions
-
Political cartoons for November 3Cartoons Monday’s political cartoons include GOP gifts for billionaires, AI taking jobs from Americans, a ghost of Trump's past, and more
-
The dazzling coral gardens of Raja AmpatThe Week Recommends Region of Indonesia is home to perhaps the planet’s most photogenic archipelago
-
Salted caramel and chocolate tart recipeThe Week Recommends Delicious dessert can be made with any biscuits you fancy
-
6 trailside homes for hikersFeature Featuring a roof deck with skyline views in California and a home with access to private trails in Montana
-
Lazarus: Harlan Coben’s ‘embarrassingly compelling’ thrillerThe Week Recommends Bill Nighy and Sam Claflin play father-and-son psychiatrists in this ‘precision-engineered’ crime drama
-
The Rose Field: a ‘nail-biting’ end to The Book of Dust seriesThe Week Recommends Philip Pullman’s superb new novel brings the trilogy to a ‘fitting’ conclusion
-
Nigerian Modernism: an ‘entrancing, enlightening exhibition’The Week Recommends Tate Modern’s ‘revelatory’ show includes 250 works examining Nigerian art pre- and post independence
-
The Mastermind: Josh O’Connor stars in unconventional art heist movieThe Week Recommends Kelly Reichardt cements her status as the ‘queen of slow cinema’ with her latest film
-
Critics’ choice: Watering holes for gourmandsFeature An endless selection of Mexican spirits, a Dublin-inspired bar, and an upscale Baltimore pub
