'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 honour to be invited in on these diaries. I
cannot remember being so moved by a book' Dolly Alderton 'Fascinating funny and heart
wrenching' Dame Julie Walters 'An emotional rollercoaster - profoundly moving and wonderfully
entertaining. A brilliant memoir about living loving and losing' Bernardine Evaristo 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
honour 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 candour in Richard's utterly unique style A Pocketful of Happiness
is a powerful funny and moving celebration of life's unexpected joys.
