P. J. Kavanagh

P. J. Kavanagh

Memoir | Travel

P. J. Kavanagh was a poet, writer, actor, broadcaster and columnist, born in 1931. The Perfect Stranger, awarded the Richard Hillary Memorial Prize in 1966, describes his early life. Poetry was his major occupation. His New Selected Poems came out in 2014, and earlier collections include Presences (1987), An Enchantment (1991) and Something About (2004). His Collected Poems was given the Cholmondeley Award in 1992. His columns for The Spectator and the Times Literary Supplement (he called them substitute poems) are collected in People and Places (1988) and A Kind of Journal (2003). His novel A Song and Dance won the 1968 Guardian Fiction Prize, and he wrote five more. A travel-autobiography Finding Connections traces his Irish forebears in New Zealand. P. J. died in August 2015 in the Cotswold hills, where he had come to live with his wife and two sons over forty years before.

THE PERFECT STRANGER

THE PERFECT STRANGER

‘The author’s dazed, almost fearful account of falling deeply in love is remarkable.’

DAVID NICHOLLS

‘A terrific book, vivid, funny and moving.’

DAVID LODGE

‘A small masterpiece … reflecting all the wit, unabashed frankness and literary elegance of its author.’

MAX HASTINGS
READER REVIEWS

‘What fine and sensitive writing. I read it after reading his obituary in the i. A deep study of true love and an interesting insight into educational work in the Dutch colonies.’

R. J. Thomas

 

‘A beautifully written, deeply felt and honest memoir.’

Adrian