"No matter what topic Morris covered over the course of her nearly eight-decade career—from travel to history to her own transition—she did so with insight, elegance and unflinching honesty."—Stuart Emmrich, Vogue
The first ever biography of a world famous author and transgender pioneer.
When Jan Morris passed away in 2020, she was considered one of Britain’s best-loved writers. The author of Venice, Pax Britannica, Conundrum, and more than fifty other books, her work was known for its observational genius, lyricism, and humor, and had earned her a passionate readership around the world.
Morris’s life was no less fascinating than her oeuvre. Born James Humphry Morris in 1926, a childhood spent amidst Oxford’s Gothic beauty and military service in Italy and the Middle East were followed by a career as an internationally feted foreign correspondent. From being the only journalist to join the first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953 to covering the trial of Adolf Eichmann, Morris’s reportage spanned many of the twentieth century’s defining moments.
However, public success masked a private dilemma that was only resolved when she transitioned genders in the late 1960s, becoming renowned as a transgender pioneer. She went on to live happily with her wife Elizabeth in Wales for another five decades, and never stopped writing and publishing.
Here, for the first time, the many strands of Morris’s rich life are brought together, portraying a person of extraordinary talent, curiosity, and joie de vivre.
Paul Clements is the author of five travel books on Ireland. He knew Jan Morris personally for thirty years.
"Perhaps the greatest travel writer of her time."—Matt Schudel, Washington Post
"To open a book by Jan Morris is like popping the cork on a bottle of champagne: pop, fizz, then bubbles of delight."—Scott Simon, NPR
"Distinctive, elegant, formidable … Morris made travel seem like the best way to truly be alive in one’s skin."—Dwight Garner, New York Times
“Life from Both Sides suggests that Jan Morris was one of the greatest writers and one of the most astonishing humans to grace the stage of English literature—her achievements mock category; her story bamboozles convention; her travels will remain unsurpassed. There are no prizes for the mighty living of life, only biographies. This will not be the last awarded to Jan Morris, but it will surely be judged the best. Beautifully written, fizzing with adventure, alight with the fire-work prose, humor, and chutzpah of its subject … Jan Morris’s was a life-changing life, and Paul Clements’s is a life-lighting book.”
Horatio Clare, author of Running for the Hills
“A beautifully written and meticulously researched biography of one of the 20th century’s best writers, who had managed to pack two extraordinary lives into one unique and ever-so-gripping travelog ... Jan herself, as I knew her, would have loved reading it..”
Vitali Vitaliev, journalist and author of Borders Up!
View all reviews
“In her long and extraordinary life, Jan Morris was renowned for her many roles as a writer, a traveller, and a woman: the author of Pax Britannica, “the Flaubert of the jet age”, a courageous trans pioneer, and the quixotic champion of Wales. At the same time, she never ceased to be gloriously herself, and Paul Clements’s enthralling biography brings one of the great figures of the English-speaking world in the late 20th century into focus for the first time, with memorable sympathy and understanding.”
Robert McCrum, author of The Story of English
“A marvel of clarity, fluency, and (Morris’s favourite word in her final days) kindness.”
John Walsh, The Sunday Times
“Engaging … meticulously researched.”
Kathryn Hughes, The Guardian
“A measured and elegant biography that Morris aficionados will find fascinating.”
Melanie Reid, The Times
“A textured portrait brimming with details of Morris’s life and work.”
The New York Times
“Lively and well-written … Clements deserves plaudits.”
Andrew Lycett,, The Spectator
“A judicious, richly researched book.”
Tim Adams, The Observer
“Clements’ respectful approach does raise some fascinating questions.”
Miranda Seymour, Financial Times
‘Meticulously researched biography.’
Kathryn Hughes, The Guardian
“Fascinating.”
Ysenda Maxtone Graham, Daily Mail
“A work worthy of its complex and much admired subject, and one that is unlikely to be surpassed … a painstakingly assembled portrait which brings her vividly to life.”
John McCourt, The Irish Times
“Clements shows an insatiable appetite in immersing himself in Morris’ 70-year career … he has produced here an account which the author herself would unhesitatingly recommend. An amazing life captured as a fly in amber in this riveting study.”
Dan McCarthy, Irish Examiner
“An important new biography.”
John Bowman, Bowman: Sunday
“A striking biography.”
Sean Rocks, RTE Arena
“Extremely readable.”
Jane Hardy, Irish News
“For anyone interested in world history, it makes for absorbing reading.”
Susan Flockhart, The Herald
“The book of the moment ... Remarkable.”
William Crawley, BBC Radio Ulster Talkback
“A fascinating account.”
Orna Mulcahy, The Gloss
“This is careful, sifted, footnote-heavy stuff, a chronological canter through a century of an utterly captivating and outrageously blessed life … Clements leaves no research stone unturned.”
Mike Parker, Nation
“Humane, reliable, and rounded—a rich, multifaceted portrait of someone whose own daughter, Suki, concurred was ‘a really complicated person’.”
Olivia Edward, Geographical Magazine
“A stunning and hefty biography … It's a beautiful tribute … Clement’s book will inspire you to discover Jan Morris if you haven't already, and for people like me who know a little of her work, well, it made me want to read more.”
Phil Brown, Q Magazine
“This is a chaste, sparkling book.”
Peter Craven, The Sydney Morning Herald
“Clements presents an intimate portrait of a writer of a writer of some of the world's most-read travel books.”
Barry Reynolds, SA Weekend
“Clements presents an engaging and loving tribute to a life well lived.”
June Sawyers, Booklist
