Worlds Apart

Further adventures in the artistic milieux of the last fifty years, a tale of love, Germaine Greer and, brilliantly, Philip Roth

'An absorbing and zesty read, both high-minded and full of high gossip. In short, a rare and unexpected treat' Melvyn Bragg
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The writer David Plante has kept a diary of his life among the artistic elite for over half a century. It is an extraordinary document, both deeply personal and a rare window onto disappearing worlds. This extracted memoir spans the 1980s, a period of exploration and growth for Plante and his lover Nikos Stangos, a partnership which will endure for forty years.

David Plante and Nikos Stangos first made a life together in London in the mid-sixties, when as newcomers they were introduced by Stephen Spender to his circle, connections criss-crossing, dazzlingly, through the air of their adopted city, interconnecting so many admired figures.

Now navigating worlds beyond London – from a house-share with Germaine Greer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to a trip to Jerusalem with Philip Roth; from the loss of parents to the growing spectre of AIDS; and in New York, Umbria, Lucca, the Aegean and rural Ireland – these are stories of expanding horizons and of a deepening and developing love: the challenges of monogamy, the strains of separation, of a growing maturity and awareness – and of what it is to belong.

Worlds Apart is a poignant, moving portrait of a relationship and a luminous evocation of a world of writers, poets, artists and thinkers.