Truth and Beauty

Sunday Times bestselling author Ann Patchett’s first work of nonfiction, chronicling her decades-long friendship with the critically acclaimed author, Lucy Grealy.

When Ann Patchett and Lucy Grealy met in college they began a friendship that would define their lives. Lucy Grealy lost part of her jaw to childhood cancer, and a large part of her life to chemotherapy and endless reconstructive surgeries. Stoic but vulnerable, damaged by bullying but fascinated by fame, Lucy had an incandescent personality that illuminated those around her.

In this tender, brutal book, Ann Patchett describes Lucy’s life and her own platonic love for her. Truth & Beauty is the story of the part of their lives that they shared – the camaraderie and comedy, the tribulations and tragedy of true friendship. A portrait of unwavering commitment through success, failure, despair and drugs, this is what it means to be part of two lives that are intertwined.

Reviews

'A luminously detailed book…Truth & Beauty, Patchett's account of her relationship with Grealy, is not a story of commonplace camaraderie. Theirs is a love story, a first-love story, an account of devotion so intense that it compares to conventional friendship as closely as double cream does to Dream Topping' Observer

‘An inspired duet…riveting’ Joyce Carol Oates

‘An extraordinary, painful, but ultimately celebratory memoir’ Red

‘Equal parts catharsis and work of art, Ann Patchett’s beautifully executed book is sincerely inscribed with Lucy’s inordinate value as a friend’ TLS

‘A loving testament to the work and reward of the best friendships, the kind where your arms can’t distinguish burden from embrace’ People

‘A loving, clear-sighted portrayal’ Elle

About the author

Ann Patchett is the author of eight novels, The Patron Saint of Liars, Taft, The Magician’s Assistant, Bel Canto, Run, State of Wonder, Commonwealth and The Dutch House. She was the editor of Best American Short Stories, 2006, and has written three books of nonfiction, Truth & Beauty, What now? and, most recently, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage. She has won numerous prizes, including the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and her work has been translated into more than thirty languages. She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. Patchett is the co-owner of Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee, where she lives with her husband, Karl VanDevender, and their dog, Sparky.