A Pocketful of Happiness

Richard E. Grant's memoir A Pocketful of Happiness is a candid account of acting and show business, as well as an intimate and heartfelt story of love, loss, and a life spent together. It is written in honor of his late wife, Joan Washington, who challenged him to find 'a pocketful of happiness in every day.' The memoir is filled with raw detail and humor, from Grant's role in Withnail & I to his Oscar nomination for Can You Ever Forgive Me.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 336 pages
Publication date: 11 May 2023
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd

A gorgeously candid account of acting and show business. And an intimate and heartfelt story of love, loss, and a life spent together. It is an honor to be invited in on these diaries. I cannot remember being so moved by a book.

Dolly Alderton's "Fascinating, funny, and heart-wrenching" memoir is a brilliant celebration of life's unexpected joys. Richard E. Grant emigrated from Swaziland to London in 1982, with dreams of making it as an actor, when he unexpectedly met and fell in love with renowned dialect coach Joan Washington. Their relationship and marriage, navigating the highs and lows of Hollywood, parenthood, and loss, lasted almost forty years. When Joan died in 2021, her final challenge to him was to find "a pocketful of happiness in every day."

This honest and frequently hilarious memoir is written in honor of that challenge—Richard has faithfully kept a diary since childhood, and in these entries, he shares in raw detail everything he has experienced: both the pain of losing his beloved wife and the excitement of their life together, from the role that transformed his life overnight in Withnail & I to his thrilling Oscar nomination thirty years later for Can You Ever Forgive Me? Told with candor in Richard's utterly unique style, A Pocketful of Happiness is a powerful, funny, and moving celebration of life's unexpected joys.

Weight: 666g
Dimension: 199 x 128 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781398519503