The Three Lives of Dylan Thomas

Dylan Thomas was one of the most extraordinary poetic talents of the twentieth century. Poems such as 'Do not go gentle into that good night' regularly come top of polls of the nation's favourites. His play Under Milk Wood is studied in schools all over the world and has never been out of print. Thomas lived a life that was rarely without incident and died a death that has gone down in legend as the epitome of Bohemian dissoluteness. In The Three Lives of Dylan Thomas, journalist Hilly Janes explores that life and its extraordinary legacy through the eyes of her father, the artist Alfred Janes, who was Thomas' great friend and painted the poet at three key moments, in 1934, 1953 and, posthumously, 1965. Using the portraits as focal points, The Three Lives of Dylan Thomas plots the poet's journey from his birthplace in Swansea to his untimely death in a New York hospital in 1953. Drawing on a personal archive that includes drawings, diaries, letters and new interviews with Thomas's friends and descendants, as well as with biographers, critics and art historians, Hilly Janes manages to bring to life the poet and his times in this highly original and powerful narrative. This portrait goes beneath the reputation of the feckless, disloyal, boozy Welsh bard to reveal a very complex character. Feckless and disloyal, yes, but also lovable, charming, scholarly, dedicated and vulnerable.