A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'Utterly fascinating' NEW YORK TIMES 'A profound rich document'
NEW STATESMAN 'An act of intimate storytelling' VOGUE A recently discovered journal from one of
America's most iconic writers Joan Didion the author of The Year of Magical Thinking and Blue
Nights. In November 1999 Joan Didion began seeing a psychiatrist because as she wrote to a
friend her family had had 'a rough few years'. She described the sessions in a journal she
created for her husband John Gregory Dunne. For several months Didion recorded conversations
with the psychiatrist in meticulous detail. The initial sessions focused on the heartbreaking
complexities of her relationship with her daughter Quintana: adoption depression alcoholism
anxiety guilt. The subjects evolved to include her work which she was finding difficult to
maintain for sustained periods. There were discussions about her own childhood -
misunderstandings and lack of communication with her mother and father her early tendency to
anticipate catastrophe - and the question of legacy or as she put it 'what it's been worth'.
The analysis would continue for more than a decade. Didion's journal was crafted with the
singular intelligence precision and elegance that characterize all of her writing. It is an
unprecedently intimate account that reveals sides of her that were unknown but the voice is
unmistakably hers - questioning courageous and clear in the face of a wrenchingly painful
journey. 'An incredibly intimate insight into her relationship with her daughter depression
and creativity' GUARDIAN 'So moving. I am astonished at the level of recall ... They are a
record of trying to save a life and understand her own' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW 'Sheds
intriguing light on the question of Quintana's part in the family dynamic' OBSERVER 'The
literary source for the three great works of Didion's old age' INDEPENDENT 'It's always a
pleasure to read Didion's measured prose' STANDARD 'Written with the immediacy of fresh
recollection ... and with the cool forensic clarity she was known for' NEW YORKER 'Compulsive
... it shows Didion the reporter at work' TELEGRAPH ' An intimate chronicle ... Notes to John
offers readers a key to Didion's persona and her work' NPR 'Perhaps for the first time we can
hope to see Didion as she saw the world: unwavering and unflinching straight down the line'
AnOTHER 'An unexpected parting gift to biographers and civilian readers' AIRMAIL 'Fascinating
... offers insight into her work' iPAPER 'A tour de force from one of the best' PEOPLE 'Notes
to John' was a New York Times bestseller w c 2025-04-28.
