In this heartbreaking, inspiring and deeply-felt book, actor, activist and AIDS awareness campaigner Jill Nalder – inspiration for one of the central characters in TV drama It’s A Sin – delivers an incredibly moving and personal account of life and friendship in 1980s London at the onset of the AIDS crisis.
Shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize 2023
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.
Publisher: Headline Publishing Group
ISBN: 9781472288431
Number of pages: 320
Weight: 234 g
Dimensions: 194 x 130 x 26 mm
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 Channel 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
I loved this book. I went through so many emotions whilst reading it and couldn’t put it down. At times so sad but also happy and positive. An education too as I was oblivious to what occurred during that period.... More
Stories that should never been forgotten. All those
beautiful boys who lost their lives and were shunned from society. Jill was (and still is) a champion for people with AIDS and has most likely saved thousands of...
More
The story that it’s a sun was based on. It is hard to put yourself in the position of Jill or her many friends at the time, but it was life - ups and downs. This very readable account doesn’t just focus on the bad,... More
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