My Thoughts Exactly

By Lily Allen Blink Publishing, 352pp, £20

When people call a book “no holds barred” it’s usually an utter disappointment, the supposed juiciness simply a mirage to sell copies. My Thoughts Exactly does not remotely fit that model. In fact, Lily Allen has detonated the line between private and public with this memoir, and it’s a dark rabbit hole of grief, loss, confusion, contradiction, fear, self-destruction and addiction. It’s also a fantastic read. The headlines include Allen kissing Zoë Kravitz, having a tryst with Liam Gallagher and engaging a hooker while on tour in America. She name-drops endlessly, is annoying in the extreme and berates her family repeatedly, but she also calls out the music industry for its own #Metoo crimes, as well as the Met over the way they handled her being stalked. She also takes responsibility for her role in the breakdown of her marriage and writes about the death of her son with a rawness that leaves you breathless.