What matters in the end? In the final years of life, which memories
stand out? Writing from her retirement home in Highgate, London, as she
approaches her 100th year, Diana Athill reflects on what it is like to
be in her nineties, and on the moments in her life which have risen to
the surface and sustain her in her later years.
She recalls in sparkling detail the exact layout of the garden of her
childhood, a vast and beautiful park attached to a large house, and
writes with humour, clarity and honesty about her experiences of the
First and Second World Wars, and her trips to Europe as a young woman.
In the remarkable title chapter, Athill describes her pregnancy at the
age of forty-three, losing the baby and almost losing her life, and her
gratitude on discovering that she had survived.
With vivid memories of the past mingled with candid, wise and often very
funny reflections on the experience of being very old, Alive, Alive
Oh! reminds us of the joy and richness to be found at every stage of
life.
