Leith, William – The Bell Bookshop

The cut that wouldn’t heal

Emma — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

‘Deeply moving … A triumph’ Justin Webb‘What might, in other hands, have been simply macabre becomes peculiarly mesmerising’ Craig Brown, The Mail on SundayTen seconds before my father’s death, I have a premonition – that the breath he is taking will be his last.William Leith’s childhood was marked by his father’s absences and as a consequence their relationship has always been a troubled one. Now, as his father lies dying, William reflects on the connections and ruptures that have marked their shared history. Can he ever really understand his father? Is there an explanation for the physical distance and emotional chasm that his father has maintained between them? And what was he running away from?Darkly comical and told with searing honesty, The Cut that Wouldn’t Heal is a moving memoir about the pain of abandonment, grief and regret.

The Cut That Wouldn’t Heal

Emma — Thu, 26 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

‘Honest without oversharing, William Leith is such a perfect writer … A triumph’ Justin Webb‘What might, in other hands, have been simply macabre becomes peculiarly mesmerising’ Craig Brown, The Mail on SundayTen seconds before my father’s death, I have a premonition – that the breath he is taking will be his last.It was only a graze caused by a dishwasher door, but the cut would not heal and infection took hold. Fifty days later, William Leith is standing by his father’s bedside, watching him disappear.William is no stranger to his father disappearing; his childhood was marked by his father’s absences, and as a consequence their relationship has always been a troubled one. Now, as his father is about to leave him for the last time, William reflects on the twists and turns of their shared history.Compelling, incisive, and told with searing honesty, The Cut that Wouldn’t Heal is about family and grief, and the pain of abandonment. It is about the way we let our loved ones down and the things we cannot say. It is about the act of disappearing – but also about how we might be able to reach out and find each other again.Eloquent and moving, The Cut that Wouldn’t Heal is a heartbreaking account of one man’s quest to find his father.

The Trick

Emma — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

‘Hugely enjoyable’ – Observer‘Spectacular’ – Aaron Brown, author of The Poker Face of Wall StreetSome people can make money. Other people can’t. It’s a thought that makes William Leith wake up in a cold sweat. He doesn’t know why it makes him feel anxious. After all, money isn’t real. We created it. Humans did. It’s our masterpiece. But the desire for it is killing us. It is this dilemma that sets William Leith off on an adventure into the bizarre, morally dubious, yet highly desirable world of the mega-rich. He spends a day with the real-life Wolf of Wall Street who, not content with his hundreds of millions, devised a fraud so he could make hundreds of millions more. He visits a Baroque mansion where a Russian half-billionaire lives alone with his butler. He tours the estate of Felix Dennis, the maverick tycoon who commissioned an avenue of statues to tell the story of his life. He flies to private islands on private jets, meets private men in private clubs, experiencing the dizzy highs of a life without limits – but all it does is give him crippling anxiety. Throughout it all he asks himself: what makes these people wealthy? And how come I’m not?