In Defence of Leisure: Experiments in Living with Marion Milner - Akshi Singh
£16.00 £20.00
The author Akshi Singh will be in conversation with Josh Cohen in our in-house and online event on the 10th of September. Find out more here.
The celebrated psychoanalyst Marion Milner lived for the entirety of the twentieth century. By the age of ninety-eight she had written nine books revealing how free time and creativity are vital for a fulfilled life.
Akshi Singh was born ninety years after Milner, in Rajasthan, over four thousand miles away from where Milner lived and worked. At first glance, the worlds of these two women seem entirely separate. Yet when Singh found herself standing at a crossroads in her life and grieving personal loss, she realised the questions and preoccupations Milner was exploring were her own.
In Defence of Leisure presents Marion Milner as a writer for our times. In asking the simple question: how do I want to spend my free time? Milner developed a method for discovering her true likes and dislikes. As Singh follows Milner's approach - from keeping a diary to painting, building a home to travelling to the sea - she discovers the importance of rest, creativity and play in all of our lives, and how it can open the door to achieving what we truly desire.
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
Published: May 2025
Format: Paperback
Pages: 256
Dimensions: 14.3 x 2.5 x 22.5 cm
