RaveThe Herald (UK)This is by no means a depressing read ... [Runcie] deploys those literary powers to impressive effect, adroitly conveying the tragedy of Imrie’s decline without ever becoming mawkish or defiling the dignity of a woman who couldn’t bear for friends to witness her deterioration ... Given their shared immersion in the theatrical world, Runcie’s narrative makes liberal use of stage terminology ... Over 200 luminous pages, we get a powerful sense of a vivacious, clever human being who enriched the lives of her friends, family and even we strangers.
Paul Clements
MixedHerald Scotland (UK)If those commentators hoped for illumination in Jan Morris: Life From Both Sides, they will be disappointed. Morris, who died in 2020 aged 94, feared being remembered as \'that writer who had a sex change\' and Clements has clearly determined to honour her professional legacy. Over 500 pages, he presents an exhaustive account of an illustrious career which, for anyone interested in world history, makes absorbing reading ... What we don’t get is much insight into the psychological turmoil that was apparently going on beneath the surface ... But after reading the book, I felt no closer to understanding what led Morris along the extraordinary – and, in the 1970s, risky and expensive – path to transitioning ... In flawless prose, Life From Both Sides confirms Suki’s assessment of Morris as a complex individual whose persona shifted with the company she kept. And Clements is surely right to resist reducing his subject to a sex change.
