The ‘commonplace book’ emerged in the early Renaissance, usually in the form of a writer’s notebook in which quotations from other writers were recorded, resulting in a book that was a unique reflection of the compiler’s thoughts and mind.

Rosemary Friedman’s ‘A Writer’s Commonplace Book’  follows this tradition in an elegant and learned fashion. In effect it is the personal notebook of a distinguished and highly individualistic novelist and writer, with an eclectic collection of more than a thousand short quotations that have struck a chord with her.

Drawing on the literary output of writers and commentators from many eras, ‘A Writer’s Commonplace Book’ is a pantheon of the interesting and the apt, the wise and the witty, the curious - or the just plain eccentric. Quotations are drawn from wide and far and include Marcel Proust, Oscar Wilde, Sigmund Freud, Anthony Burgess, George Eliot, Doris Lessing, and Tom Stoppard,

The author, Rosemary Friedman, has published twenty-three titles including twenty bestselling novels which have been translated into several languages and serialized by the BBC. She has also published over thirty-two short stories, written commissioned screenplays for film and television, and had two stage plays produced.

‘A Writer's Commonplace Book’ is published by Michael O'Mara priced £9.99.  Mature Times readers can buy it for the special price of £7.99 with free p&p by calling 01903 828503 and quoting Mature Times/COMM (UK mainland only).