Love from the Pink Palace: Memories of Love, Loss and Cabaret through the AIDS Crisis

Description

'I read the book in one go. I laughed and cried like a baby, and was transported back to a time of innocence, clouded by the enormity of the harsh reality . . . Just amazing' CATHERINE ZETA JONES 'As it happens, I was also a Jill in the eighties - but not half as good a Jill as real Jill' DAWN FRENCH 'Jill met the crisis head on . . . She held the hands of so many men. She lost them, and remembered them, and somehow kept going' RUSSELL T DAVIES A heartbreaking, life-affirming memoir of love, loss and cabaret through the AIDS crisis, from IT'S A SIN's Jill Nalder When Jill Nalder arrived at drama school in London in the early 1980s, she was ready for her life to begin. With her band of best friends - of which many were young, talented gay men with big dreams of their own - she grabbed London by the horns: partying with drag queens at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, hosting cabarets at her glamorous flat, flitting across town to any jobs she could get. But soon rumours were spreading from America about a frightening illness being dubbed the 'gay flu', and Jill and her friends now found their formerly carefree existence under threat. In this moving memoir, IT'S A SIN's Jill Nalder tells the true story of her and her friends' lives during the AIDS crisis -- juggling a busy West End career while campaigning for AIDS awareness and research, educating herself and caring for the sick. Most of all, she shines a light on those who were stigmatised and shamed, and remembers those brave and beautiful boys who were lost too soon. 'Thank God for people like [Jill] . . . I cannot recommend this book highly enough' MICHAEL BALL 'An engaging, moving account' TIMES SATURDAY REVIEW 'Simultaneously devastating and uplifting' GRAZIA 'Engrossing, heart-breaking and inspiring' MATT CAIN

Jill Nalder is originally from Neath, South Wales. She is a successful West End actress and was the inspiration behind Jill Baxter's character in Russell T. Davies' Channel 4 programme IT'S A SIN. She was also one of the founders and first chairperson of West End Cares, now called Theatre MAD: Make A Difference. To date the charity has raised over 10 million for HIV/AIDS.

I could not put [Jill's] book down. She guides us through her career and her life, and what leaps off the page is her strength, her compassion and her unswerving loyalty to people who were sometimes afraid to live their real lives. I am so pleased that Jill has had the chance to tell her story. We should all 'Be More Jill' -- Lesley Joseph, actor and broadcaster A beautiful, raw, tender book remembering friendships in the eye of the storm -- Russell T Davies, creator of Channe 4's IT'S A SIN As it happens, I was also a Jill in the eighties - but not half as good a Jill as real Jill * Dawn French * Engrossing, heart-breaking and inspiring, this is the perfect companion piece to IT'S A SIN * MATT CAIN, author of THE SECRET LIFE OF ALBERT ENTWISTLE * Took me right back. [Jill has] brought it all to life. A wonderful, wonderful work . . . Thank God for people like [Jill] who got up, stood up and said, "We need to do something about this." . . . I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Obviously very sad, but bloody funny as well! -- Michael Ball Love From the Pink Palace is a beautiful yet emotional rollercoaster... Jill writes with ease, this makes it surprising this is her first book. Each chapter is filled with light and dark. They appear so close to each other that you go from crying to full-on belly laughing. * Richard Angell, Campaigns Director - Terrence Higgins Trust *