Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes: The Official Biography

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He is often compared with PG Wodehouse but he’s closer to Swift. Or to GK Chesterton, from whom he drew so much inspiration. Like Chesterton, he is too bursting with ideas to confine himself to neat, prize-worthy volumes. He couldn’t even slow down enough to divide the books into chapters. And he has that Chestertonian quality of merriment, of intellectual play. Discworld, like Middle-earth, is immersive in a way that tempts people to dress up, draw street maps, tabulate its rules and pretend they live there. Even Pratchett himself, with his rings and his sword and his “manorette” of a house, sometimes gave the impression that he had just come down from the Ramtops. The creator of the phenomenally bestselling Discworld series, Terry Pratchett was known and loved around the world for his hugely popular books, his smart satirical humour and the humanity of his campaign work. But that's only part of the picture.

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Both more and less than a biography . . . full of insights and revelations, in many ways the sort of thing Prathett might have written about himself, proud of what has been done, honest about the process . . . written with intelligence and compassion. Christopher Priest, The Times Literary Supplement Following his untimely death from Alzheimer’s disease, the mantle of completing Terry Pratchett’s memoir was passed to Rob. I got the audio version of the book partly because I knew I'd never be able to get through it without crying (and it's hard to read with tears all over your tablet) but also because it was read (very beautifully) by the author, Rob Wilkins (Terry's personal assistant). It was fun reading about the Discworld Conventions. At one in Liverpool, “the available food included what was widely agreed to have been one of the last servings of that dying culinary phenomenon, the Great British Curry, complete with obligatory sultanas, and there was something jelly-based for pudding.”Terry's life was much like anyone else's, with humble beginnings that drifted into anecdotal rich midlife that didn't so much as crash as it sort of free-wheeled with a few minor stalls. There are no startling revelations or cryptic clues as to how to become as successful as he was. Ordinarily, Terry was a man who worked incredibly hard and whinged sometimes and the holy grail of how to be a writer is simply to write. Wilkins is a faithful and comprehensive documenter of Pratchett's life . . . moving and sensitive. Canberra Times

Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes: The Official Biography Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes: The Official Biography

It will include “fragments” from the memoir Pratchett was working on before he died, the publisher added. Rob Wilkins says: ‘Living a life alongside one of the world’s greatest authors, then reliving every moment for his biography, has been an incredible journey. Terry was one of the most talented, complex, intellectually stimulating people I’ve ever had the privilege of meeting - a true genius. The responsibility of documenting his life when I lived so much of it with him has been such an emotive experience. A Life with Footnotes is a book that I hope would have made Terry proud.’ Now, the book Terry sadly couldn’t finish has been written by Rob Wilkins, his former assistant, friend and now head of the Pratchett literary estate. Drawing on his own extensive memories, along with those of the author’s family, friends and colleagues, Rob unveils the full picture of Terry’s life - from childhood to his astonishing writing career, and how he met and coped with what he called the ‘Embuggerance’ of Alzheimer’s disease. We were robbed of a genius who had so many more stories to tell us. But as long as his name is spoken he will never truly die. This is the greatest biography I've ever read and I feel so privileged to have been given insight into his incredible life Our servers are getting hit pretty hard right now. To continue shopping, enter the characters as they are shown

Spotlight on: A Stroke of the Pen

At the time of his death in 2015, award-winning and bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett was working on his finest story yet - his own. It was fun reading about the Discworld Conventions. Now, the book Terry sadly couldn't finish has been written by Rob Wilkins, his former assistant, friend and now head of the Pratchett literary estate. Drawing on his own extensive memories, along with those of the author's family, friends and colleagues, Rob unveils the full picture of Terry's life - from childhood to his astonishing writing career, and how he met and coped with what he called the 'Embuggerance' of Alzheimer's disease.