Private Life of the Diary

In a beautiful literary exploration, Sally Bayley tracks the evolution – and the potential twenty first century death of – the diary, mourning what it means to lose the art of writing simply for oneself.

Reviews

‘A masterly study on the 'long historical habit' of diary writing … Bayley's book succeeds brilliantly in merging scholarship with imagination, and emotional depth with writerly flair’
Independent
‘An elegant survey of diaries through history and why we keep them … Bayley is splendidly dismissive of blogs – sending boring screeds into "a blank universe" – and when she defined tweeting as "a sort of premature mental ejaculation" I wrote in the margin in Sylvia Plath-size letters with a Magic Marker: Brava, Sally!’
Roger Lewis, The Times
‘A delight for fans of Sylvia Plath as well as diary writers everywhere’
Woman's Way Ireland