Jan Morris: life from both sides (Paperback) - Paul Clements

'A marvel of clarity, fluency, and (Morris's favourite word in her final days) kindness.' The Sunday Times

The first full account of the remarkable life of Jan Morris: writer, soldier, traveller, and trans pioneer.

Jan Morris is widely considered one of Britain's best-loved writers, known for her observational genius, lyricism, and humour. Born in 1926, she spent her childhood amidst Oxford's Gothic beauty and later participated in military service in Italy and the Middle East, before becoming an internationally feted foreign correspondent. However, public success masked a private dilemma that was only resolved when she transitioned gender in the late sixties. She went on to live happily with her wife Elizabeth in Wales for another five decades, and never stopped writing and publishing. Here, for the first time, the many strands of Morris's rich and at times paradoxical life are brought together.

About the Author

A journalist, writer, and broadcaster, Paul Clements is the author of five travel books and a biography of Richard Hayward, adapted for BBC television. He knew Jan Morris personally for thirty years, edited a collection of tributes to her on her 80th birthday, and spent four months at Oxford University where he wrote the first critical study of her work, published by University of Wales Press (1998). A former BBC assistant editor, he is a recipient of the Reuter Journalist's Fellowship Programme, a Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and a member of the Royal Society of Literature. He lives with his wife and son in Belfast.