Hermione Eyre

Richard E. Grant’s tribute to his wife leaves us shattered for his loss

In a heartbreaking memoir he recalls their long, happy marriage – and the jokes and banter they still kept up during her terminal illness

Richard E. Grant and his wife Joan at a book launch in 2008. [Alamy] 
issue 01 October 2022

Richard E. Grant pulls off a feat here. The title is twee but the content isn’t. With unselfpitying dash the actor-writer recounts caring for his wife, the dialect coach Joan Washington, through lung cancer last year (‘Living grief. Raw. Savage.’). He thoughtfully interleaves the heartbreak with glitzy showbiz recollections which help keep our peckers up, so we ricochet through time, from the Golden Globes to the Royal Marsden, from sedative injections to Star Wars.

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