{"product_id":"loving-alasdair-the-39-years-of-my-life-with-alasdair-gray","title":"Loving Alasdair","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Author is a trained nurse and\nher medical knowledge and caring disposition helped form the bedrock of the\nrelationship. It was a relationship that began in the early 1980s when May\nHooper and Alasdair Gray met at a party in the West End of Glasgow and when\nAlasdair Gray, clearly attracted by May Hooper's striking good looks, asked if\nhe could draw or paint her. At a following portrait session the two realised\nthat they enjoyed each other's company, that this was more than just an\nartist\/model relationship and the friendship took off and was to last for 39\nyears until Alasdair Gray's death in 2019.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBeneath the lust, the book tells stories of long walks\ntogether, of a visit to the Edinburgh Book Festival, of trips to the cinema, of\noutings to the Scottish countryside, of Alasdair Gray's work on murals in\nGlasgow and in Dunfermline (when he was working with May Hooper's partner,\nRobert, as his assistant). Conversations and events taking place in the course\nof their times together are described, sometimes showing connections with books\nto be written by Alasdair Gray. What is described is sometimes in the general\nnature of personal friendships, sometimes out of the ordinary, sometimes\nbizarre and eccentric, always entertaining and always throwing light on the\ncharacter of this Scottish artist. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough when they first met they\neach lived in different parts of the city of Glasgow, quite distant from each\nother, they were later to become near-neighbours in the West End of the city.\nThe memoir describes the events which led to Alasdair Gray's hospitalisation\nand how May Hooper, of her own volition and acting out of deep-seated love and\nadmiration, became the person who organised his home care when he was confined\nto a wheelchair. The memoir alludes to Alasdair Gray's relationships with his\nown next-of-kin and describes how May Hooper was to take on what was in effect\nan unofficial power of attorney to ensure that his final years were spent in\nthe way that he himself wanted.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lexus Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49785435881816,"sku":"9781904737667","price":18.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9781904737667_fbd3ab68-a3cf-4b0f-839f-872ffc787ced.jpg?v=1764482414","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/loving-alasdair-the-39-years-of-my-life-with-alasdair-gray","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}