In Review

21 November 2008 22:46 BST

Double Drink Story by Caitlin Thomas

Virago Press, 174 pp, £7.99.

In a nutshell...

An honest, compelling, alcohol-infused tragedy.

What's it all about?

Dylan Thomas is widely considered to be Wales's greatest poet. His most famous works include the funeral favourite Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night, which he wrote on his father's death, and the modern masterpiece Under Milk Wood. As well as his gentle way with words, Dylan also inherited from his grammar school master father a remarkable capacity for drink. Dylan found success, but only relatively shortly before he found death in 1953, aged 39. He left behind him a young family and a penniless, alcoholic widow.

Who's it by?

When Dylan left Wales in pursuit of a literary career in London he soon met his future wife Caitlin Macnamara at the Wheatsheaf public house in the Fitzrovia area of the English capital's west end. Caitlin proved to be Dylan's match not only in terms of her love of drinking but also in her formidable ego. He dreamed of being the supreme poet of all time while she dreamed of being the supreme dancer and the combination of their dangerously adventurous personalities would prove to be an explosive one. They wed a year after they met and their marriage was a tempestuous, jealous and dramatic one involving numerous infidelities on both sides. However following Dylan's death, Caitlin eventually moved to Italy, remarried, found sobriety after attending Alcoholics Anonymous and decided to write about her life with the legendary poet.

As an example...

"We became dedicated to pubs and to each other. Pubs were our primary dedication; each other our secondary. But one fit so snugly into the other that they were perfectly complementary. Ours was not only a love story, it was a drink story, because without alcohol it would never have got onto its rocking feet."

"To drink moderately, we were absolutely convinced, was definitely beneath us. Only miserable, frightened little people did that. And we, of course, were automatically up among the bold, unafraid, unruly Greats."

"In the world of artists, the most unrewarding job is to be the wife of a famous artist, because whatever she does to develop her own separate personality appears inevitably as a pale imitation of what he has done…Reflected glory for me has always been an intolerable ignominy."

Likelihood of becoming a Hollywood blockbuster

The story has been made into one of this summer's most eagerly-anticipated films, The Edge of Love, which is released on June 20th. Directed by John Maybury, it stars Sienna Miller as Caitlin and Keira Knightley as one of Dylan's many alleged mistresses, Vera Killick. Written by Knightley's mother, Sharman Macdonald, it remains to be seen whether the film will represent Caitlin's account of events with fidelity, but with its star pairing of actresses it is sure to be a hit at the box office. The story has captivated other filmmakers and another Pierce Brosnan-produced film entitled simply Caitlin, which stars Miranda Richardson and Rosamund Pike as the long-suffering poet's wife at different stages in her life, is also in the pipeline.

What the others say

"Drink swills through the book and so does Dylan. Fatally arrogant, naive, bold and unruly, the Two Terrible Children... derided the pale orthodox world of despised moderation." – The Scotsman.

"Compelling, if painful, reading." – Mail on Sunday.

So is it any good?

Caitlin makes clear from the beginning that, as well as dreaming of becoming a great dancer, she also harboured dreams of being a writer. These dreams were diminished in the face of the considerable talents of her poet husband. However it is evident from her frank autobiography that she too has an arresting way with words. From the outset of the book, she stresses her lack of education and intellectualism, yet Caitlin can and does write phenomenally well. Her account of her life with Dylan is both brutally honest and wonderfully touching. To a woman who suffered a jealous, bitter half-life at the hands of her unfaithful, genius husband, the book finally allows Caitlin to display her own talent for writing, her own gift for expression and her own uniquely candid voice, even if Dylan takes centre stage for much of it.

Nevertheless Caitlin ensures that the book is her own by excluding her husband for some of it as she takes time to describe the history of the Macnamaras and her life before the poet. Unfortunately, these chapters are rather less compelling than those that include Dylan. As interesting as the other details of the book are, its finest parts are the chapters where Caitlin describes the drunken antics of her husband and herself. Absorbing her words leaves the reader feeling as glutted and intoxicated as if they had just polished off her tipple of choice - a double Scotch and ginger ale. Caitlin's rich, heady language - as potent as drink itself - powerfully conveys the completely unrestrained, seedy, dreamlike state of life through the eyes of a young pair of ruthless and idealistic young alcoholics.

8/10

Natasha Hegde