Dear Tom is a memoir based on Courtenay's early years - from his schooldays, through university, RADA, to his early stage / screen career. More than that, it's a tribute to his parents, particularly his mum, who wrote to him every week he was away from home, keeping him up to date with the goings-on back home in Hessle Road, Hull. Married to a dockworker, struggling to make ends meet, and never really cut out for the role of housewife (or "fishwife" as she at times describes herself), Annie Courtenay is an artistic soul with no way to express herself except through her letters to her son. The book includes many of these letters in full, as Courtenay finally attempts to grant her wish, many years after her death.

"My leaving home, so painful for her, gave her the one opportunity she did have to express herself in writing. What magic if, after all these years, people read her letters and are affected by them."

Read the full review at my blog. ( )