*A NOTE ON SHIPPING: P&P WITHIN THE UK STARTS AT £3.00, PLUS £1.00 FOR EACH ADDITIONAL ITEM; EUROPEAN SHIPPING STARTS AT £9.00, PLUS £1.00 FOR EACH ADDITIONAL ITEM; AND SHIPPING TO THE REST OF THE WORLD STARTS AT £12.00, PLUS £1.00 FOR EACH ADDITIONAL ITEM.

CUSTOMERS MAY FIND THAT THE DEFAULT SHIPPING RATE IS SET TO ‘WORLDWIDE’; IF THIS IS THE CASE, AND YOU ARE A CUSTOMER BASED IN EUROPE OR THE UK, SIMPLY SELECT THE CORRECT POSTAL RATE AT CHECKOUT.

‘A genuine revelation.’ —The TLS on Patience

‘An extraordinary record of life’s minitiae… a treasury of wisdom about the writing life.’ —The Spectator on A Writer’s Diary

*

PATIENCE

MEET ELLIOTT. Elliott is something of a genius. He is hugely intelligent. He’s an incredible observer. He is able to memorise and categorise in astonishing detail. He has a beautiful and unusual imagination.

More than that, Elliott is an ideal friend. He is overflowing with compassion and warmth and fun. To know him is to adore him.

But few people do know Elliott, properly. Because Elliott is also stuck. He lives in a wheelchair in an orphanage. It’s 1979. Elliott is forced to spend his days in an empty corridor, either gazing out of the window at the birds in a tree or staring into a white wall – wherever the Catholic Sisters who run the ward have decided to park him.

So when Jim, blind and mute but also headstrong, arrives on the ward and begins to defy the Sisters’ restrictive rules, Elliott finally sees a chance for escape. Individually, the unloved, unvalued orphans will stay just where they are; together, they could achieve a magnificent freedom – if only for a few hours.

But how can Elliott, unable to move or speak clearly, communicate all this to Jim? How can he even get Jim to know he exists?

Patience is a remarkable story of love and friendship, courage and adventure – and finding joy in the most unlikely of settings. Elliott and Jim are going to have some fun.

*

A WRITER’S DIARY

A WRITER’S DIARY IS A NOVEL THAT BLENDS FACT AND FICTION, invention and memoir with joyful creativity and remarkable literary ambition.  In it, Toby Litt takes on some of the biggest questions of life and death, not to mention literary as well as human mortality and the steady march of time. 

At first, A Writer’s Diary appears to be exactly what it claims to be. It is a daily summary of the events in a person called Toby Litt's life: his thoughts on creating literature, his concerns for his family and the people he teaches, his musings on the various things that catch his attention around his desk and his immediate surroundings...  

But as it progresses, questions start to arise. Is this fact? Or is it fiction? (And if it’s both, which is which?) Is this a book about quotidian daily routines - one person’s days as they unspool - or is something more going on? Is there something even larger taking shape? … And so, seemingly by magic, an increasingly urgent narrative starts to build - and A Writer’s Diary becomes  a compulsive page-turner, full of stories, full of characters we have grown to love – and full of questions we need answered. Will Toby find the perfect pencil sharpener? Will everyone he loves make it through the year? And will he be the same person at the end of it?