The Independent (10 April 2014) reported that ‘Forty of the nation’s leading writers have sent the Secretary of State for Justice, Chris Grayling, protest postcards with the name of the book they would most like to send to a prisoner – if they still could – as part of a campaign against government restrictions on inmates receiving books.’
Novelist Ian McEwan chose:
‘The Grass Arena by John Healy. It’s a long and brilliant postcard from hell. A brutal childhood, alcoholism, a London underworld – this is what it’s like to touch bottom, then find your way up through the game of chess.’
John Healy’s most recent book is Coffeehouse Chess Tactics.
