Ups and Downs : Diaries, 1972-1975

Frances Partridge, now recognised as one of the great British diarists, at the age of 101, decided to publish her seventh volume of diaries, which cover her life between the years of 1972 and 1975. Despite over ten years having passed since the deaths of both her husband Ralph and son Burgo, their presence still hovers over these diaries. But never one to give up on life or to wallow in sadness, Frances turns to her friends for sustenance and distraction. She is, as ever, passionate about good conversation and argument, and in this volume there is plenty to discuss: the crises in Heath's government, the miners' strike, Bertolucci's new film LAST TANGO IN PARIS, the growing industry of writing about Bloomsbury, and the gradual emergence of drug-taking among the young people she knows.