This is Tom Courtenay’s first book – not just an autobiography of his early life, but a window onto his relationship with his mother. Dear Tom: Letters from Home [ISBN 0 552 99926 1] is a collection of letters written by his mother to him during the time he was at University and at RADA. Courtenay himself has contextualised the letters with a sensitive and accomplished, well-crafted account of his childhood through to the early death of his mother.
This is Tom Courtenay’s first book – not just an autobiography of his early life, but a window onto his relationship with his mother. Dear Tom: Letters from Home [ISBN 0 552 99926 1] is a collection of letters written by his mother to him during the time he was at University and at RADA. Courtenay himself has contextualised the letters with a sensitive and accomplished, well-crafted account of his childhood through to the early death of his mother.
The book gives an account of his family and upbringing in Liverpool, living in working-class near poverty, and of his mother, father and sister. It ties what his mother talks about in her letters to what is happening at the time in his own life. It is emotionally rich, he is unafraid to express his love and respect for his mother in return for her love of him. It is very moving: it is difficult not to cry at the ending.
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