Revisiting Loved and Missed for audio, by Susie Boyt

We asked Susie Boyt, what is it like coming back to a novel five years after it’s been published?

It was a strange pleasure giving voice to Loved and Missed. I often think of the characters anyway – I’ve imagined Jean having a love hate relationship with Chat GPT, and Lily starting Kleinian (!) therapy – but as I read, I felt like I was taking care of them all. I had tears now and then and the studio technician was visibly moved.I felt strong love for my own family throughout.

Recently I’ve had wonderful messages from American grandmothers who are living Ruth’s life, who say they didn’t think there was any language to describe it. I performed a short scene last year as part of the Soho Reading Series and afterwards lots of young people came up to me and said ‘You made me realise I need to phone my Mum!’ That pleased me enormously. This spring – in a wild kind of quasi-mirage – the book was mentioned on the Netflix series Vladimir where two academics played by Rachel Weisz and Leo Woodall, start discussing Loved and Missed out of the blue.

The mad life of a book!

‘I was in the story, feeling everything. I cared about every character . . . She writes beautifully. It was a total pleasure’

Philippa Perry, author of The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read

‘She takes the study of love into uncharted territory and every sentence has its depth and pleasure’

Linda Grant

‘I am so moved: it carries a huge emotional power . . . I ache for them all. Poignant, witty, lyrical and perceptive’

Joan Bakewell

Susie Boyt writes with a mordant wit and vivid style which are at their best in Loved and Missed.

When your beloved daughter is lost in the fog of addiction and you make off with her baby in order to save the day, can willpower and a daring creative zeal carry you through ?

Examining the limits, disappointments and excesses of love in all its forms, this marvellously absorbing novel, full of insight and compassion, delights as much as it disturbs.

Meet The Author: Susie Boyt

Susie Boyt is the author of five other acclaimed novels and the much-loved memoir My Judy Garland Life which was shortlisted for the PEN Ackerley Prize, staged at the Nottingham Playhouse and serialised on BBC Radio 4. She has written about art, life and fashion for the Financial Times for the past fourteen years and has recently edited The Turn of the Screw and Other Ghost Stories by Henry James. She is also a director at the Hampstead Theatre. She lives in London with her family.

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