Alive, Alive Oh!: And Other Things That Matter

In the near-decade since her prize-winning memoir Somewhere Towards the End became a surprise New York Times bestseller, Diana Athill has become one of the world’s preeminent voices on aging. Arriving on the eve of Diana’s ninety-eighth birthday, her new memoir is as thrilling and unsentimental as her most beloved work. An introduction locates Diana in the present day, ensconced in her cozy room in a home for the elderly in Highgate, London. In precise, elegant, and utterly beguiling prose, Diana begins to reflect on the things that matter after a lifetime of remarkable experiences, and the memories that have risen to the surface and sustain her. The textures of her memories remain vivid. Arranged chronologically, her chapters chart a variety of events—from the bucolic pleasures of her grandmother’s garden to her harrowing experience as an expectant mother in her forties, to the joys and challenges encountered at every stage of life.