Inside Story

'Utterly compelling' Guardian

"Life...is shapeless, it does not point to and gather round anything, it does not cohere. Artistically, it's dead. Life's dead."

So begins a love letter to life, a resuscitation of sorts, bringing to life vibrant characters such as:

• Saul Bellow
• Philip Larkin
• Iris Murdoch
• Elizabeth Jane Howard

...and the person who captivated Amis' twenties—the alluringly amoral Phoebe Phelps.

Amis delves into life's most profound questions:

• How to live?
• How to grieve?
• How to die?