Love from the Pink Palace: Memories of Love, Loss and Cabaret through the AIDS Crisis, for fans of IT'S A SIN

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It’s absolutely shocking that we are in the 21st century and that there is still no cure for this dreadful disease. In this moving memoir, IT'S A SIN's Jill Nalder tells the true story of her life during the AIDS crisis, and that of friends and colleagues, doctors and nurses, activists and fundraisers. They could recognise throughout human history sex had been the cause for so much rumour, denial, anger, shame, and secrecy etc, treachery even. As 'mother hen' she relays very well the disappointment of the young gay men who don't know how to respond to their parents' disappointment in their children's new found honesty with their feelings.

For fans of channel four’s ‘It’s a sin’ this is a must read…the book is very different to the show and is heartbreaking, funny, enlightening and shocking. That friend made it to 7 August 1995, painfully close to life-saving triple-drug therapy that would arrive less than 12 months later. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.Their stories now do not only live in the fictional characters of Ritchie, Ash, Colin, Roscoe and Gregory but in full, never-to-be-forgotten technicolour in the pages of Love From the Pink Palace. The confidence the young gay men hid a weakness where they believed they were good listeners, because they were clever and they were good learners. It is an homage to those medical practitioners who so tirelessly worked to give dignity and love throughout the treatments. With her band of best friends – of which many were young, talented gay men with big dreams of their own – she grabbed London by the horns: partying with drag queens at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, hosting cabarets at her glamorous flat, flitting across town to any jobs could get. In this heartbreaking, inspiring and deeply-felt book, actor, activist and AIDS awareness campaigner Jill Nalder – inspiration for one of the central characters in TV drama It’s A Sin – delivers an incredibly moving and personal account of life and friendship in 1980s London at the onset of the AIDS crisis.

Jill also informs us about the many advances that have been made since the epidemic which was very useful to know. Most of all, she shines a light on those who were stigmatised and shamed, and remembers those brave and beautiful boys who were lost too soon. Nalder details the events of her life in such a beautiful way that it allows you to connect to all the men she speaks about. What this book is about, if it is about any one thing in particular, is recognising what life was like for the first generation of men in London, and other world capitals, who both 'came out' when young-close to the age that their heterosexual equivalents had their first relationships-and contracted A. To do all of that while caring for so many facing end of life trauma and demanding daily care, makes it even more remarkable.

Growing up through the 80’s I witnessed the war years and this book takes me right back to the time and london. It is hard to put yourself in the position of Jill or her many friends at the time, but it was life - ups and downs. If you’re a west end/musicals fan (especially of early to mid nineties shows) there’s lots to geek out on. It’s truest amazing to read Jill telling these boys stories, sharing their lives, their loves and their experiences. But soon rumours were spreading from America about a frightening illness being dubbed the 'gay flu', and Jill and her friends - spirited Juan Pablo, Jae with his beautiful voice, upbeat Dursley, and many others - found their formerly carefree existence now under threat.

I highly recommend this book - it's beautifully written, brings people who should be alive and performing today back to life in a lovely way, and educates the reader brilliantly about a scary time in the world. Beautiful young man after beautiful young man reaching an untimely loss due to a virus that is barely recognisable in the UK today. The tender anecdotes and conversations, the dignity and love, the human contact and sense of family are poignant and in reading this book had me laughing out loud one minute and in tears the next. Considering this was good for someone who had no context (me), I think that it would be a hit for anyone who is familiar with the author and her scene, and I would recommend the Audible read by Jill with her lovely Welsh accent. Publication dates are subject to change (although this is an extremely uncommon occurrence overall).For them 'coming out' was partly about saying that the baggage sex came with in somebody else's past. The suffering and the help that others tried to provide laid out in full technicolour, cabaret, theatre, shows, hospitals, etc.