Enough Said

Poignant, funny, contemplative, personal, and political: Alan Bennett's fourth collection of diaries is the latest installment in a singular record of a singular life.

20 September. Have a notion for a radio series—Awkward Conversations.

Enough Said is Alan Bennett's fourth collection of diaries and prose. Covering the turbulent years of 2016 to 2024, the diaries take us through lockdown, Brexit, the reign of Johnson, the rise of Trump, and the death of the Queen. In between, we take the train with him back and forth to Yorkshire; celebrate the herons, the newts, and the street fairs; and lament the scarcity of curlews, the closure of the last local bank, and the deteriorating welfare state. There is the premiere of Allelujah!, the revived Talking Heads, the publication of two Sunday Times bestsellers, and the filming of The Choral.

And 2024 is the year that Bennett turned ninety. He reflects on old age and the importance of luck. He looks back to childhood and recalls an idyllic wartime month as an evacuee. A book for slow perusal, this is Bennett at his most poignant, funny, and contemplative.