Arrangements in Blue: Notes on Love and Making a Life

Amy Key

ISBN 10: 1529919967 / ISBN 13: 9781529919967

Published by Vintage Publishing, 2024

About this Item

'The book I've been waiting for my entire life' DOLLY ALDERTONIs it possible that life without romantic love isn't so bad?When poet Amy Key was growing up, she looked forward to a life shaped by romance, fuelled by desire, longing and the conventional markers of success that come when you share a life with another person. But that didn't happen for her. Now in her forties, she sets out to explore the realities of a life lived in the absence of romantic love.Using Joni Mitchell's seminal album Blue - which shaped Key's expectations of love - as an anchor, Arrangements in Blue elegantly honours a life lived completely by, and for, oneself.Building a home, travelling alone, choosing whether to be a mother, recognising her own milestones, learning the limits of self-care and the expansive potential of self-friendship, Key uncovers the many forms of connection and care that often go unnoticed.With profound candour and intimacy, Arrangements in Blue explores the painful feelings we are usually too ashamed to discuss: loneliness, envy, grief and failure. The result is a book which inspires us to live and love more honestly.**A SUNDAY TIMES AND INDEPENDENT BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023***?Marks an important shift in ideas about intimacy' OBSERVER.

Seller Inventory # CIN1529919967G

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Arrangements in Blue: Notes on Love and Making a Life
• Publisher: Vintage Publishing
• Publication Date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1529919967
• ISBN 13: 9781529919967
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

Arrangements in Blue elegantly honors the life lived completely by—and for—oneself. Inspired by Joni Mitchell’s seminal album Blue, celebrated British poet Amy Key sets out to examine the volatile scales of romantic feeling as she has encountered them: from the low notes of loss and unfulfilled desire—punctuated by sharp, discordant feelings of jealousy and regret—to the deep harmony of friendship and the highs defined by sexual attraction and self-realization. Key celebrates the bliss of sleeping in an empty bed, the intimate energy required for cooking solo, and the transformative power of traveling alone—especially to the sea. Written with the exquisite finesse of a poet, this bold manual for navigating life alone provides an alternative perspective on a shared human experience so rarely explored.