Notes to John
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- £9.99
Publisher Description
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
‘Utterly fascinating' NEW YORK TIMES
'A profound, rich document’ NEW STATESMAN
'An act of intimate storytelling' VOGUE
A recently discovered journal from one of America's most iconic writers, Joan Didion, the author of The Year of Magical Thinking and Blue Nights.
A pile of neatly typed pages was found in Joan Didion's office after her death. She had meticulously recorded her weekly sessions with a psychiatrist. As far as anyone knows, the pages had been read by only one other person: Didion's husband, John Gregory Dunne.
The sessions began as a method of dealing with the heartbreaking alcoholism of their adult daughter, Quintana. Discussions broadened into revelations about Didion's own childhood, longstanding behaviour patterns, marriage, guilt, work and 'what's been worth'.
Writing was the way Didion dealt with life. Notes to John presents a riveting account of the therapeutic process, crafted with the singular intelligence, precision and elegance that characterise all of her work.
‘Compulsive reading … what an experience it is, watching Didion beat back tragedy with her brilliant mind’ TELEGRAPH
‘An incredibly intimate insight into her relationship with her daughter, depression and creativity’ GUARDIAN
‘So moving … a record of trying to save a life, and understand her own’ NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
‘A chance to meet Didion's gaze head-on, eye to eye, with only a waft of cigarette smoke breaking the silence’ ANOTHER
‘An intimate chronicle … offers readers a key to Didion's persona and her work’ NPR
'Notes to John' was a New York Times bestseller w/c 2025-04-28.
About the author
JOAN DIDION was the author of five novels, twelve books of nonfiction, a play and many screenplays. She was born in California. She died at her home in New York City on 23 December 2021.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This intimate posthumous volume brings together notes from the early 2000s that Didion (Let Me Tell You What I Mean) addressed to her husband, John Gregory Dunne, on her sessions with psychiatrist Roger MacKinnon, whom she started seeing at the behest of her daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne, in an effort to repair their relationship. The dispatches act as a cipher to 2011's Blue Nights, Didion's oblique meditation on Quintana's death in 2005 at age 39, revealing in greater detail Quintana's struggle with alcoholism and mental illness. According to the notes, MacKinnon encouraged Didion to work through how her own neuroses might be impacting Quintana, such as feeling guilty over having spent so much time working instead of playing with Quintana when she was young. Other recurring topics include the closeness of Didion and Dunne (MacKinnon suggests that the couple's tendency to sometimes hold back from expressing themselves to protect their professional relationship left Quintana feeling alienated and confused as to what a healthy marriage looked like), and the need for the pair to allow Quintana space to explore her own desires so she could move beyond simply trying to please them. More than mere notes, Didion's fly-on-the-wall reports recap the therapy sessions word-for-word, offering an unvarnished look into the personal life and psychology of the oft-enigmatic writer. As poignant as it is candid, this is essential reading for Didion devotees.
