A Life in Letters

Missives from the mountain. . . . A sprightly and revealing collection by the writer who captured postwar American life, love, and loss

Kirkus

One of the greatest American writers of the 20th century . . . Brilliant, riveting and essential for anyone remotely interested in Updike; shockingly salacious enough to enthral the remotely curious; and cleverly annotated for easy reading . . . The best letters are those to his wives in the 1970s, where you realise that Updike’s greatness as a writer lies not in his much-lauded descriptive powers, nor in his ability to weave arcane areas of computer science or theology into his fiction, but in his ruthlessly honest psychological acuity, as he lays himself bare — right down to admitting he likes to beat his wife’s lover at golf

The Times

By turns fascinating, embarrassing, and even moving, the letters reveal that Updike’s ceaseless coupling was never quite about lust at all. It was about faith — about locating meaning amid the mundanities of the modern world

UnHerd

A profoundly poignant portrait, an invaluable historical document, and a timely reflection on the eternal tensions between societal conventions and free speech . . . The great writer has been branded a misogynist and narcissist. Yet as his letters prove, his writing remains uncannily evocative

The Telegraph