Description

A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2023: BIOGRAPHY

This Ragged Grace tells the story of Octavia’s journey through recovery from alcohol addiction, and the parallel story of her father’s descent into Alzheimer’s. Over the course of seven years life continues to unfold. Paths are abandoned, people fall ill, waters get choppy, seemingly impossible things are navigated without the old fixes.

As Octavia moves between London, Stromboli, New York, Cornwall and Margate, each place offers something new but ultimately always delivers the same message: that wherever you go, you take yourself with you.

Publisher Review

An intimate, raw, empathetic story of loss, recovery, love and human fragility. This Ragged Grace is a beautifully written and intricately observed masterpiece of a memoir — DOLLY ALDERTON An extraordinary, electrifying book about loss, chaos, addiction and death, and the wild work of staying tender in the face of it — OLIVIA LAING The intelligence of the writing is a kind of grace in itself – light and deep and beautiful — DEBORAH LEVY A beautifully written and intellectual account of a woman coming to terms with herself . . . Heartbreakingly tender . . . Her sensitivity to the world is what makes the writing so beautiful and, ultimately, hopeful. Death hovers on every page and yet this book is full of life * * The Times * * This Ragged Grace is smart and tender, and honest in that raw way that gets you at the back of your throat. It is slowly revealing of the world, and an avalanche of feeling, all at the same time. A towering act of grace, in fact — EMILIE PINE The tension between what we remember and what we forget is at the core of this evocative memoir . . . Regular listeners of Literary Friction, the podcast that Bright co-hosts, will be familiar with her intelligent yet deeply felt style. A lover of art as well as literature, she uses the works of Louise Bourgeois and Sigmund Freud to trace her story of healing . . . immensely poignant * * New Statesman * * How lucky we are that Octavia Bright has written this book, full of rich, subtle, hard-won, beautifully woven wisdom and love. Read this book and carry its light with you forever — DAMIAN LE BAS This Ragged Grace is a courageous work, filled with a deep tenderness and generosity and authenticity. The voice of Octavia Bright stays with me, it is honest, intricate, raw and real. This Ragged Grace is so beautiful, so bold and so Bright — SALENA GODDEN Bright transforms her and her father’s story into something not just shapely and solid, but beautiful and moving, too * * Prospect * * This Ragged Grace examines the fragility of the self in exquisite detail. Generous, compelling, poignant and ultimately life affirming; Bright has managed to capture the complexity of being human — HEIDI JAMES