Books by Dannie Abse

Widely acclaimed for its warm humour, lyricism and honesty, as well as its accurate evocation of the thirties, Ash on a Young Man's Sleeve has become a sought after classic.In this delightful autobiographical novel, Dannie Abse skilfully interweaves public and private themes, setting the fortunes of a Jewish family in Wales against the troubled backcloth of the times - unemployment, the rise of Hitler and Mussolini, and the Spanish Civil War.

A work of autobiographical fiction celebrating the fascinating world of the imagination, being a novel of eighteen short stories exploring the complex nature of deceptive appearances and reality. Reprint; first published in 1991, and this new edition first appeared in 2001.

His distinction lies in his imaginative and feeling responses to a variety of different worlds - work as a doctor, the experience of life in Wales and North London, the mysterious nature of creativity, the Jewish and bardic traditions.

Dannie Abse's rich mixture of Welsh and Jewish backgrounds, and his dual occupations of doctor and author, have led to what is widely regarded as one of the most readable, humorous and poignant autobiographies since the war.

The year 2009 marks the 60th anniversary of the publication of Dannie Abse's first poetry collection, After Every Green Thing, and since that time he has published an astonishing range of books, including poetry, fiction, criticism and autobiography.

WINNER OF THE WALES BOOK OF THE YEAR AND SHORTLISTED FOR THE PEN/ACKERLY PRIZE. Several months after the death of poet Dannie Abse's wife, Joan, in a car accident, he began to write a diary which is both a record of present grief and a portrait of a marriage that lasted more than fifty years.