Terry Pratchett A Life With Footnote..., Rob Wilkins
Terry Pratchett A Life With Footnote..., Rob Wilkins
List: $18.00 | Sale: $12.60
Club: $9.00

Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes
The Official Biography

Author: Rob Wilkins

Narrator: Rob Wilkins

Unabridged: 16 hr 8 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/29/2022


Synopsis

Brought to you by Penguin.

WINNER OF THE BRITISH SCIENCE FICTION ASSOCIATION AWARD FOR BEST NON-FICTION

'PEOPLE THINK THAT STORIES ARE SHAPED BY PEOPLE. IN FACT, IT'S THE OTHER WAY AROUND.'

At the time of his death in 2015, award-winning and bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett was working on his finest story yet - his own.

At six years old, Terry was told by his headteacher that he would never amount to anything. He spent the rest of his life proving that teacher wrong. At sixty-six, Terry had lived a life full of achievements: becoming one of the UK's bestselling writers, winning the Carnegie Medal and being awarded a knighthood for services to literature.

Following his untimely death from Alzheimer's disease, the mantle of completing Terry's memoir was passed to Rob Wilkins, his former assistant, friend and now head of the author's literary estate.

Drawing on his own extensive memories, along with those of Terry's family, friends, fans and colleagues, Rob recounts Terry's extraordinary story - from his early childhood to the literary phenomenon that his Discworld series became; and how he met and coped with the challenges that 'The Embuggerance' of Alzheimer's brought with it.

'Of all the dead authors in the world, Terry Pratchett is the most alive.' - John Lloyd

'Always readable, illuminating and honest. It made me miss the real Terry.' - Neil Gaiman

© Rob Wilkins 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Reviews

Goodreads review by [ J o ] on September 16, 2023

Despite Terry Pratchett being my all-time, absolute favourite author, I never really cared much to find out more about his life. It never seemed like I needed to, everything I needed to know was written within the pages of the Discworld books I was reading: how he viewed humanity, how humorous he wa......more

Goodreads review by Katy on July 25, 2022

I wasn't sure what I was going to make of this to be honest. I have been a Pratchett fan since pretty much the beginning and my loyalty and love to Sir PTerry is one of the constants of my life. I didn't know what Rob was going to do in this book and I was very, very nervous. I needn't have worried.......more

Goodreads review by Magrat on January 11, 2024

Para empezar tengo que aclarar que no me gustan mucho las biografías, pero de leer una biografía, tenía que ser esta. Como buena fan de Terry Pratchett y de su Mundodisco, estaba deseando descubrir más la vida y carácter de un autor que siempre ha conseguido alegrarme la vida con sus novelas cuando a......more

Goodreads review by Derri on October 08, 2022

I had to take a star off my rating, because the main character dies. Surely a mistake. With the familiarity of deep friendship, and obvious respect, Rob Wilkins shares with us Sir Terry's irascible views, easily kindled curiosity, and unfailing satisfaction with tinkering. the biography is told with......more

Goodreads review by Trish on May 14, 2023

The cover GR is showing is NOT this book's actual cover; this is: And yes, it's the signed edition of a limited number. It also received special binding and the following additions: a postcard with a TP doodle and one of the most famous quote from the Discworld series, a doodle by Rob Wilkins, TP's g......more


Quotes

Always readable, illuminating and honest. It made me miss the real Terry. Neil Gaiman

Heart breaking and funny . . . sometimes joyfully, sometimes painfully, intimate . . . it is wonderful to have this closeup picture of the writer's working life. Observer

The joy of this biography . . . is that it spins magic from mundanity in precisely the way Pratchett himself did. The Telegraph

No one, after Pratchett's wife, Lyn, and daughter, Rhianna, knew the author as well as Wilkins. I wept through the last 20 pages - beautifully done - charting Pratchett's decline in a way that is both sensitive and unsparing. The Times

Fond, funny and conveys a pitch-perfect sense of how Pratchett managed to take the elements of his 1950s working-class childhood . . . and turn it into a universe of limitless richness and invention. Mail on Sunday

The friendship and affection between the pair shines through every page . . . Of course, [Pratchett] fans will love the book . . . and even casual readers will delight in tales of his idiosyncratic passions. Independent

A biography almost as funny and perceptive as one of Terry's novels . . . a rich, deeply affectionate portrait of a unique personality . . . it's a joy to see the much-missed author spring back into technicolour life in this fascinating and deeply moving tribute. Daily Express

A moving and acutely observed account . . . Pratchett's magical mind, and dementia, by the man who knew him best. The Sunday Times

Wilkins has many advantages over most biographers, having not only known his subject well, but taken down notes while he was alive for his projected memoir. The result, at times, is like a ventriloquist act, with Pratchett's voice and personality emerging loud and clear. The Herald

Both more and less than a biography . . . full of insights and revelations, in many ways the sort of thing Prathett might have written about himself, proud of what has been done, honest about the process . . . written with intelligence and compassion. The Times Literary Supplement