The Summer of a Dormouse

In this, the third installment of his memoirs, John Mortimer, best known as the creator of the Rumpole stories, describes what it is like to be seventy-seven years old but to feel like an eleven-year-old at heart. Though he suffers from the afflictions with which his father contended-asthma, glaucoma-and has added some of his own, he continues to live with boundless energy, passion, and humor. While most people his age are in full retirement, Mortimer is still motoring through life-traveling to Edinburgh with a substitute wife, lunching with prisoners, and dealing with common politicians. Wherever he goes-London, Tuscany, Morocco-Mortimer embraces life and work with enthusiasm, revealing himself as one of the most astute and generous figures of his generation.