Description

‘Deeply moving … A triumph’ Justin Webb
‘What might, in other hands, have been simply macabre becomes peculiarly mesmerising’ Craig Brown, The Mail on Sunday

Ten seconds before my father’s death, I have a premonition – that the breath he is taking will be his last.

William Leith’s childhood was marked by his father’s absences and as a consequence their relationship has always been a troubled one. Now, as his father lies dying, William reflects on the connections and ruptures that have marked their shared history. Can he ever really understand his father? Is there an explanation for the physical distance and emotional chasm that his father has maintained between them? And what was he running away from?

Darkly comical and told with searing honesty, The Cut that Wouldn’t Heal is a moving memoir about the pain of abandonment, grief and regret.

Publisher Review

PRAISE FOR THE CUT THAT WOULDN'T HEAL: A concise and intensely readable study of love and regret. * Ian Jack * William Leith is a very fine writer, defined by a compulsive honesty: not the heavily-curated oversharing of social media culture, but the real, uncomfortable thing. This book, which deals in the sometimes absurdist agonies of grief - and indeed of life - is his best yet. * Laura Thompson * As mysterious and unsettling as a Cold War thriller - the search for self amidst the puzzle of a brilliant absentee father. -- Ed Needham * Strong Words Magazine * PRAISE FOR THE TRICK: The Trick takes all of Leith's writing habits - his mazy streams of consciousness (few writers are quite so enamoured of, or good at, watching themselves think) and his love of axiom - and, if anything, ups the ante... Hugely enjoyable. * Observer * PRAISE FOR THE HUNGRY YEARS: Compulsively readable. I gulped it down in a couple of greedy bites ... It is a powerful memoir ... it has the unusual qualities of heart and daring. In the end, these are what stay inside you. * Daily Telegraph *