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A Pocketful of Happiness

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A Pocketful of Happiness

By: Richard E. Grant
Narrated by: Richard E. Grant
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'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

‘One of the bravest, strongest, funniest memoirs I’ve ever read’ Bonnie Garmus, bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry

An intimate and uplifting memoir by Richard E. Grant.


Born in Swaziland in 1957, Richard E. Grant moved to the UK to pursue his acting career, and has been a fixture on our screens since his breakout role in Withnail and I in 1987. When his beloved wife Joan died in 2021 after almost forty years together, she set him a challenge: to find a pocketful of happiness in every day.

The result is this book.

Set between the present day and flashbacks to delightfully indiscreet diary entries recalling landmarks from his remarkable life and glittering career, this is an immensely personal and profound memoir that celebrates and cherishes life’s unexpected joys.

Funny, moving and perceptive, A Pocketful of Happiness is an insight into the life of a much loved British actor.
©2022 Richard E. Grant. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, UK. All Rights Reserved.
Entertainment & Celebrities Celebrity Funny Feel-Good Career Heartfelt Inspiring Witty Happiness
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Richard E Grant does not disappoint. He has written a honest and beautifully real account of his life and love with Joan. I enjoyed every minute of the book.

As lovely as I had hoped for

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Deeply personal account of a beautiful marriage and career. Enjoyed listening to Richard share his remarkable story.

A pocketful of happiness

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I loved this beautiful, intimate story of great love and loss. Richard E Grant narrates his own book, telling the story of his 38 year relationship with his wife, Joan and his devotion makes you hope for yourself that you might be lucky enough to find that sort of love.
At times, the book slips into flowery language which I found a little uncomfortable but I can forgive that because the universality and ordinariness of loneliness in the face of loss resonated deeply with me. I highly recommend this beautiful and beautifully read memoir.

Thoroughly beautiful memoir

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A beautiful portrait of love and loss exquisitely told in magnificent style by Mr Grant with a certain amount of panache.

Emotional Rescue

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Absolutely beautiful story, I loved the weaving in and out of times gone by and the present. Wonderful

Warm, hilarious and love filled

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As an Australian I have all my life had a hate for those with pompous English accents, but within a chapter or two found Richard so amazing, he really is an incredible story teller and quite obviously an amazingly beautiful human being. This book in a small way changed how I look at the world and people, in a small but lasting way.

Amazingly written

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A genuine love story. Both highly entertaining and insightful and a very real examination of nursing a loved one to their death. Deeply moving and powerful.

Gut-punchingly stunning portrayal of love and loss.

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Such a beautiful heartfelt tribute from Richard to his very gorgeous, highly talented, down to earth love of his life wife, Jone.
It made me laugh and cry and helped me to understand what some of my dearest friends had to deal with when they to lost the love of their lives to cancer.
I feel anyone would enjoy this book and be inspired to find A Pocketful of Happiness each and every day afterwards 💗🌟

Heart felt

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What a wonderful book. The love between Richard and his wife Jean is so beautiful shown through his wonderful writing. So sad to lose someone you love. Such a touching story of grief. Jean strength through her cancer diagnosis is evident. I feel I have learnt something about true love, loss and grief.

Bittersweet

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This story that mostly covers the last 9 months of Richards wife Joans cancer journey is poignant & beautiful, it helped me come to terms with a lot of grief from my loss of a close family member to this horrible disease in 2020, made me cry & laugh & appreciate my life more, I highly recommend this book but there will be tears.

Sad & joyful at the same time

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