Odd Man Out

More about the book

This is a tribute to the work of writer Martyn Harris. As an interviewer, critic, columnist, controversialist and reporter, he wrote incisively about any subject, however trivial, and had the power to make his readers think. Edited by Caroline Heler Harris, Martyn's wife, and Paul Fisher (his childhood friend), this collection of articles is taken from "The New Statesman", "New Society", "The Spectator" and "The Daily Telegraph", and traces the development and growth of Harris's writing and thinking throughout his career. The book is split into "Interviews" includes pieces on Sir Edward Heath, Roald Dahl, Damien Hirst, The Marquess of Bath and Arnold Schwarznegger, amongst others. "Home and Away" contains his best reporting, features and columns. Also contained in the volume are extracts from his two novels, "Do It Again" (1989) and "The Mother-in-Law Joke" (1992), but perhaps Harris's most poignant work can be found in the section "On the Sick", consisting of all his pieces related to his illness, covering the anger, the acceptance, the scepticism, the religious, the comic and the sad.