TELL ME GOOD THINGS
On Love, Death, and Marriage
A profound examination of grief and a great celebration of love by internationally bestselling author James Runcie.
In early 2020, as the world sunk into the pandemic, James Runcie and his wife Marilyn Imrie were going through a different, far more personal tragedy. After 35 years of miraculously happy marriage, they learned that the painful, frustrating symptoms Marilyn had been experiencing for two years were a sign of Lou Gehrig’s Disease. With this diagnosis, during the isolation and strangeness of the pandemic, James and Marilyn’s lives were transformed.
Now, in his startling and intimate memoir, James tells the story of Marilyn’s illness and death—in all its moments of tragedy,
A profound examination of grief and a great celebration of love by internationally bestselling author James Runcie.
In early 2020, as the world sunk into the pandemic, James Runcie and his wife Marilyn Imrie were going through a different, far more personal tragedy. After 35 years of miraculously happy marriage, they learned that the painful, frustrating symptoms Marilyn had been experiencing for two years were a sign of Lou Gehrig’s Disease. With this diagnosis, during the isolation and strangeness of the pandemic, James and Marilyn’s lives were transformed.
Now, in his startling and intimate memoir, James tells the story of Marilyn’s illness and death—in all its moments of tragedy, rage, and strangeness—while painting a vivid portrait of her life, in all its color, humor, and brightness. Tender, funny, and deeply true, Tell Me Good Things is an unforgettable story of life before death and love after grief.
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Hardcover
- February 2023
- 224 Pages
- 9781639731527
Buy the Book
$27.00
About James Runcie
James Runcie is an award-winning film-maker, playwright and literary curator. He is the author of twelve novels that have been translated into twelve languages, including the seven books in the Grantchester Mysteries series. He has been Artistic Director of the Bath Literature Festival, Head of Literature and Spoken Word at the Southbank Centre, London, and Commissioning Editor for Arts on BBC Radio 4. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He lives in Scotland. • www.grantchestermysteries.com • @james_runcie
Praise
“A tender memoir of the challenges of bereavement . . . I closed this book wishing I’d met her—but feeling that I almost had.” —Daily Telegraph
“Runcie generously fulfils the promise of his title . . . because his memoir is full of good things: stories that reveal Imrie’s sharp intelligence, her bold fashion sense, her glee at pricking the bubble of pretension . . . Runcie is also touchingly honest . . . Tender memoir.” —The Times (London)
“Vivid, bleak and wonderful . . . Where Runcie is excellent is in laying bare his own grief, its narcissism and the ‘bizarre freedom’ is gives him not to care anymore . . . As an instructive examination of how to find hope in the thralls of despair, Tell Me Good Things is a wonderful addition to the literature of bereavement.” —The Sunday Times (London)