Monica Jones, Philip Larkin and Me by John Sutherland review â a poisonous love
In thrall to Larkinâs genius: racism, drink and despair in a generous account of a tortured relationship over four decades
âA victim of misogyny, she was a bit of a misogynist herselfâ ⦠Monica Jones with Philip Larkin. Photograph: Rex Features
âA victim of misogyny, she was a bit of a misogynist herselfâ ⦠Monica Jones with Philip Larkin. Photograph: Rex Features
Sat 17 Apr 2021 02.30 EDT
Poor Monica Jones. She would have liked to marry Philip Larkin but he kept her at armâs length (or the 100 miles between Hull and Leicester) for more than 30 years. An academic, she loved her subject, English literature, but failed to publish any books and, as a result, was never promoted by her university department. She dressed with flair and flamboyance but was dismissed by Larkinâs friends as âa grim old bagâ, âa
the years of wrongdoing, in not a single instance did those accusations hold up. our office suffered great criticism for the way we treated poor monica. listen, poor monica knew exactly what she was doing. she didn t give us anything. for the next several hours, they tried to convince monica to cooperate. i could hear her crying. i could hear her wailing from down the hall. as the hours passed, it seemed as though the prosecutors would never be able to calm monica down. they offered her the opportunity to cooperate in exchange for immunity. monica lewinsky said she would not have any discussions with the office unless her mother was present. she was allowed to call her mother. her mother either couldn t fly or didn t want to fly, so we had to wait for her to come down on the train. so we were in a hotel room with monica lewinsky for several hours while her mom was taking amtrak. we ended up spending 10 hours, you know, waiting for the mother. and to say that that is a
in not a single instance did those accusations hold up. our office suffered great criticism for the way we treated poor monica. listen, poor monica knew exactly what she was doing. she didn t give us anything. for the next several hours, they tried to convince monica to cooperate. i could hear her crying. i could hear her wailing from down the hall. as the hours passed, it seemed as though the prosecutors would never be able to calm monica down. they offered her the opportunity to cooperate in exchange for immunity. monica lewinsky said she would not have any discussions with the office unless her mother was present. she was allowed to call her mother. her mother either couldn t fly or didn t want to fly, so we had to wait for her to come down on the train. so we were in a hotel room with monica lewinsky for several hours while her mom was taking amtrak. we ended up spending 10 hours, you know, waiting for the mother. and to say that that is an uncomfortable situation
the years of wrongdoing, in not a single instance did those accusations hold up. our office suffered great criticism for the way we treated poor monica. listen, poor monica knew exactly what she was doing. she didn t give us anything. for the next several hours, they tried to convince monica to cooperate. i could hear her crying. i could hear her wailing from down the hall. as the hours passed, it seemed as though the prosecutors would never be able to calm monica down. they offered her the opportunity to cooperate in exchange for immunity. monica lewinsky said she would not have any discussions with the office unless her mother was present. she was allowed to call her mother. her mother either couldn t fly or didn t want to fly, so we had to wait for her to come down on the train. so we were in a hotel room with monica lewinsky for several hours while her mom was taking amtrak. we ended up spending 10 hours, you know, waiting for the mother. and to say that that is a
in not a single instance did those accusations hold up. our office suffered great criticism for the way we treated poor monica. listen, poor monica knew exactly what she was doing. she didn t give us anything. for the next several hours, they tried to convince monica to cooperate. i could hear her crying. i could hear her wailing from down the hall. as the hours passed, it seemed as though the prosecutors would never be able to calm monica down. they offered her the opportunity to cooperate in exchange for immunity. monica lewinsky said she would not have any discussions with the office unless her mother was present. she was allowed to call her mother. her mother either couldn t fly or didn t want to fly, so we had to wait for her to come down on the train. so we were in a hotel room with monica lewinsky for several hours while her mom was taking amtrak. we ended up spending 10 hours, you know, waiting for the mother. and to say that that is an uncomfortable situation