Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Must You Go?: My Life with Harold Pinter
    Must You Go?: My Life with Harold Pinter
    Must You Go?: My Life with Harold Pinter
    Audiobook11 hours

    Must You Go?: My Life with Harold Pinter

    Written by Antonia Fraser

    Narrated by Gareth Armstrong, Multiple Narrators and Sandra Duncan

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    When Antonia Fraser met Harold Pinter she was a celebrated biographer and he was Britain's finest playwright. Both were already married - Pinter to the actress Vivien Merchant and Fraser to the politician Hugh Fraser - but their union seemed inevitable from the moment they met: 'I would have found you somehow', Pinter told Fraser. Their relationship flourished until Pinter's death on Christmas Eve 2008 and was a source of delight and inspiration to them both until the very end.

    Fraser uses her Diaries and her own recollections to tell a touching love story. But this is also a memoir of a partnership between two of the greatest literary talents, with fascinating glimpses into their creativity and their illustrious circle of friends from the literary, political and theatrical world.

    “Deeply moving.” THE TIMES

    “The quiet brilliance of this book steals up on you...funny, clever and controlled.” GUARDIAN
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherW. F. Howes Ltd
    Release dateJul 1, 2010
    ISBN9781407400426
    Must You Go?: My Life with Harold Pinter
    Author

    Antonia Fraser

    Antonia Fraser is the author of many widely acclaimed historical works which have been international bestsellers. She was awarded the Medlicott Medal by the Historical Association in 2000 and was made a DBE in 2011 for services to literature. Her previous books include Mary Queen of Scots; King Charles II; The Weaker Vessel: Woman's Lot in Seventeenth-Century England, which won the Wolfson History Prize; Marie Antoinette: The Journey; Perilous Question; The King and the Catholics; and The Wives of Henry VIII.  Must You Go?, a memoir of her life with Harold Pinter, was published in 2010, and My History: A Memoir of Growing Up  in 2015. Fraser's The Case of the Married Woman is available from Pegasus Books. She lives in London. 

    More audiobooks from Antonia Fraser

    Related to Must You Go?

    Related audiobooks

    Biography & Memoir For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Stephen Fry Actor, Writer And Presenter

      Mar 19, 2020

      Stephen Fry’s well-documented journey from comedy actor to national treasure, by way of best-selling author, ahead-of-the-curve technophile, film director and television presenter, means he needs little introduction. He has teamed-up with composer De

      3 min read

    • Article

      As Her Family Home Has A Starring Role In A New Television Series Karen Lowther Shares The Fascinating Stories Behind One Of Britain’s Most Historic Houses

      Jan 27, 2020

      As Her Family Home Has A Starring Role In A New Television Series Karen Lowther Shares The Fascinating Stories Behind One Of Britain’s Most Historic Houses
      6 min read

    • Article

      David Sedaris

      Sep 15, 2017

      Our house on Emerald Isle, The Sea Section, is divided down the middle, and has an E beside one front door and a W beside the other. The east side is ruled by Hugh, and the bedroom we share is on the top floor. It opens onto a deck that overlooks the

      12 min read

    • Article

      Bill Buford’s Stint in Hell’s Kitchen

      Mar 11, 2020

      Fourteen years after the bestselling Heat, former New Yorker fiction editor Bill Buford is back with another culinary adventure. The post Bill Buford’s Stint in Hell’s Kitchen appeared first on The Millions.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Chips, With Everything

      Oct 28, 2021

      Henry ‘Chips’ Channon: The Diaries 1938-43 edited by Simon Heffer (Hutchinson, £35) Christopher Pincher is Minister of State for Housing DIARIES ARE CAPTIVATING, they tell us so much about so much. They magic up the mood behind the headlines of the t

      5 min read

    • Article

      Dinner with Martin Amis

      Oct 3, 2019

      Dinner with Martin Amis
      9 min read

    • Article

      Re-Covered: The Mischief

      Dec 2, 2019

      Re-Covered: The Mischief
      8 min read

    • Article

      No Pain, No Gain

      Jul 12, 2023

      No Pain, No Gain
      5 min read

    • Article

      Anything Goes For Me And My Chums

      Aug 25, 2021

      In my neck of the woods, it’s back to normal. How’s it with you? On the bus and the London Underground, I am still wearing a mask, but other than that, everything is much as it was before the pandemic struck – except that my office-worker friends rea

      3 min read

    • Article

      Burton And Taylor Go To Oxford

      Jan 12, 2022

      In 1965, when I was in my final year at Oxford, reading English, news came through that Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor were coming to town. They were going to appear in an Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS) production of Dr Faustus by Chr

      7 min read

    • Article

      Readers’ Letters

      Feb 9, 2022

      The Oldie, 23-31 Great Titchfield Street, London, W1W 7PA letters@theoldie.co.uk To sign up for our e-newsletter, go to www.theoldie.co.uk SIR: Like Gyles Brandreth, my husband and I are great fans of Bargain Hunt. As well as enjoying the banter betw

      6 min read

    • Article

      Badminton Champion

      Nov 15, 2023

      Badminton Champion
      3 min read

    • Article

      Barry's Last Words

      May 31, 2023

      Barry's Last Words
      4 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Aug 22, 2022

      Books
      6 min read

    • Article

      My Brief Encounter With Celia Johnson

      Nov 15, 2023

      I am writing this on a train. Another train. I am on tour. In fact, I am on two tours. Simultaneously. With one tour, I am taking my one-man show (Gyles Brandreth Can't Stop Talking) across the land, from Edinburgh to Eastbourne. There's no rhyme nor

      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Must You Go?

    3.5/5

    87 ratings10 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      There is something disreputable about reading someone else's diary. On this occasion Lady Antonia won't mind: indeed, she will mind if we don't.'Must You Go?', is not only a diary, it is a diary about a diary, and as such looses spontaneity. Mrs Pinter has taken her contemporaneous notes of life with husband Harold, and edited them into what she hopes will be saleable copy. I have read most of Antonia Fraser's nonfiction work, and enjoyed it. After reading MYG, I was left with the feeling that for her, writing was purely business. Oh Dear: another illusion shattered.Morally, the Lady Antonia does not come out of the work very well despite her asseverations of faith. She seems proud of her unfaithfulness to her husband Sir Hugh Fraser, and adultery with Harold. She also advertises her overt sexuality. A matter for her certainly; but does she need to tell us about it?If you like diaries, you will probably like this one. Whether you would like it $30 worth, is a harder to decide. It starts with adultery in 1975, and ends with tragic death in 2008. In 328 pages, the Champaign Socialists spend and party through their 33 years together. Anyone who is anybody - or was, will be found in these pages.Lady Antonia has the kind of face that looks as if she is going to burst into tears at any moment - and in this book she does.The Longford family are a literary industry which is being perpetuated by the Fraser brood. I regret that 'Must You Go?' will not be one of their (many), stellar achievements. 286 words
    • 5/5
      What a beautiful love story. The lavish lives of the English intellectuals.The brilliant Harald Pinter and Antonia.
    • 4/5
      very sad ending.
    • 4/5
      I've read several historical biographies by her (and her mother) but know very little about him. It's an account of their life together and since they know all sorts of interesting people in the arts, I'm enjoying what she says about that. She has a witty British sense of humor that I like.
    • 3/5
      Seldom have I read a book so filled with literary references. They are on every page and, while Antonia Fraser's memoir of her life with Harold Pinter is lightweight, it is intellectually charged with interesting bits of flotsam and jetsam from the literary world of a couple who were immersed in literary lives and lights. It was while at a social gathering in 1975 that Ms. Fraser walked up to Pinter, before leaving, to say that she liked his play, “The Birthday Party.” The two barely knew each other. He looked back at her with what she calls “amazing, extremely bright black eyes” and said, “Must you go?” He called her his destiny and wrote her love poems, some of them later collected in a volume called “Six Poems for A” (2007). She loved his bristling mind, his “awesome baritone” and the way his “black curly hair and pointed ears” made him look “like a satyr.” They remained happily together (marrying in 1980) for 33 years, through his Nobel Prize in 2005 and until his death from cancer, at 78, in December 2008. There are many anecdotes that intrigue the reader in this delightful memoir. One of my favorite moments follows: "Dinner with tom and Miriam Stoppard. The latter tackles Harold about the swearing in No Man's Land: 'This must be something in you, Harold, waiting to get out.' Harold: 'But I don't plan my characters' lives.' Then to Tom: 'Don't you find they take over sometimes?' Tom: 'No.'" It seems that their life is filled with such moments and, when the literary references wane, there are the political highlights that bring alive the times (a span of three decades) with intrusions of bits about the IRA or left and right-wing political goings-on. Pinter’s life force — he was mostly anything, it seems, but Pinteresque — comes through clearly here. Ms. Fraser details his love for cricket, tennis and bridge. He threw himself around recklessly on dance floors and swam “with a great splashing like a dog retrieving a ball.” The result is a wonderful read for anyone interested in the life of the epitome of a literary couple.
    • 5/5
      This is a very good way to get an insight into somebody´s life without the guilt of reading somebody else´s diary. Well written, an easy, illuminating and for me also inspiring read. Must you go is a moving story of two people who obviously were deeply in love with each other, and managed to have a beautiful friendship and relationship for thirty years. That these two people were among the best known authors in modern Brittain certainly adds another dimension to the book, and of course, that they, especially HP, also were taking very active stand for their political beliefs made me to reflect on the world events as well, and this was a good exercise for me. Also, I love the theatre, so for me, the insights into some of the most talked about plays, playwrites and performances was a bonus. Some of the things I found inspiring: Antonia´s father telling her on her 63rd birthday, that at this age Winston Churchill had yet to become the Prime Minister. In our age, that is so focused on youth and young looking people, this is something we should remind ourselves of often. Harold´s committment to the plays and also to his convictions, even when very ill, was extremely touching and inspiring. And how Harold and Antonia, together with their friends and family, took pleasure of literature together- performing plays, reading poems etc. I wish I had AF´s confidence when she described how somebody met her and HP and continued, "naturally, they were delighed to meet us" - that sentence made me laugh out loud. And a catty comment, there is a small mistake in the book -Nobel day is NOT on the 7th of December:), but on the 10th. But, this aside, this book made me think, laugh, and cry -and plan to read more poetry, as well as biographies. For light reading, I am very happy with this book.
    • 3/5
      I love biographies. I love Antonia Fraser's history studies. So why, then, did I not love this book? It's a "love story for the ages", the story of Antonia Fraser's chance meeting with - then romance and marriage with - playwright and actor Harold Pinter. I suppose I struggled with the selfishness of it all - yes, they were in love. But they each left families, and spouses, to chase that love, and this is the sticking point for me. For all the genius of these two, and for all that they were a loving and committed couple once they got together, the fact remains that their selfishness destroyed two families, and that bothers me. Taken from Fraser's diaries, the book is just as well written and fascinating as you could wish, which just makes me grind my teeth all the more.
    • 3/5
      Award winning writer Lady Antonia Frasier had “met” playwright Harold Pinter several times before they both found themselves guests at a dinner party on January 8, 1975. Lady Antonia’s life would change when, as she was leaving the party, she heard Pinter say to her “Must you go?”These three words started their relationship and inspired the title of this book. In Must You Go? we see the relationship span over thirty years and we see them through their separate divorces. Lady Antonia, best known for her Mary, Queen of Scots biography and her Jemima Shore fictional series, was married to Sir Hugh Frasier, an MP in the House of Lords. Pinter was married to actress Vivian Merchant. It was over five years before both divorces were final. Pinter and Frasier had been living together for about three years by then.The subtitle for this book is My Life with Harold Pinter, so fittingly the diary posts begin with their meeting in 1975 and close when Pinter’s long struggle with cancer ends on Christmas Eve, 2008. Knowing that Frasier is an award winning author, I expected more. It wasn’t until I put the book down for several days and then picked it up again, that I appreciated it for what it is. It’s the bits and snags of happenings that make up our lives. There is a lot of the expected name dropping and the attending of fabulous events that one would expect from people in their circle, but that does not take away from the story of their lives. Frasier relates these people and their activities as you and I would relate going to dinner with friends, because that’s exactly what they are. Their friends just happen to be the well known and the famous in the “glitterati world” they lived in.Frasier’s artistry with words comes to light with the minimal use of flowery prose. There’s no need to embellish their relationship. It began as the stuff of tabloid front pages, however Frasier always goes with the simple truth. She writes from the heart as well as the soul, keeping in mind that all too often everyone’s life is messy and disarranged. Theirs was out there for public consumption. She and Pinter got past the ugliness and pain.What’s left are indeed the bits and snags, the things jotted down as a remembrance to place the happenings of a particular day or time. And we’re all the better that she did save her diary and ultimately decided to share the bits of her life with Pinter in a quiet and respectful way.I enjoyed Frasier’s Must You Go? and do recommend it. If I gave stars, I’d give it 3 ½ out of 5.Source: This book was provided to me by the publisher at my request and in no way affected by review.
    • 4/5
      It is what it is: 300 pages of good gossipy reading, about one of the most famous literary couples of the last 35 years. A brilliant playwright of the "kitchen sink school", Pinter acheived the remarkable feat of being mentioned in a great Stephen Sondheim song shortly after he turned 40. ("The Ladies Who Lunch", from "Company.") He went on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005. Fraser - born in 1932 - is a popular and admired historian and biographer, often writing about powerful women and Queens who lose their heads (she is probably best known for her biographies of Mary Queen of Scots and Marie Antoinette.) This is the story of a romance and a long relationship that began in scandal: Lady Antonia and Pinter met at a London dinner party in January 1975, at a time when they were both married with children. But "the heart has its reasons which reason cannot know," and in spite of their families and social expectations of the time, they determined to break the bonds of family and societal expectations to create a new lasting marriage of minds. I got the feeling that these diary entries were jotted down in spare moments, not much reflected upon. She had a busy life - with six maturing children, a demanding husband, loving and active yet elderly parents - and a writing career of her own in which she was nearly always working on a lengthy manuscript. As a result, her diary is not particularly "literary" in itself, nor does Lady Antonia come across as particularly deep or reflective. The real interest lies in what the Pinters were doing at any given time, and who they were meeting. Beware: Lady Antonia is not averse to name-dropping! But it's true that both she and her husband were both members of what in Britain is known as "the chattering classes," - and they both had links to theatre and film as well. So its not really surprising that they were always meeting Philip Roth for lunch, Salman Rushdie was popping over for a spot of tea, Vaclav Havel was calling for advice from Prague, they were going to cast parties with John Gielgud and discussing film projects with Jeremy Irons, and Cherie Blair wanted to interview them for a BBC documentary.
    • 5/5
      Antonia Fraser describes the 33 years she lived with the poet and playwright Harold Pinter using exerts from her diaries and linking narrative. Two sexually attractive, passionate, and strong characters are revealed as devoted and loving companions in sparse, effective prose.The most affective biography I have read since The Last Enemy by Richard Hilary