Fridays with Blanche

'What a treat! Brutal truths and bombshells galore. Profound reflections on life, longing and the legacy of Bob. It's like a long Friday lunch that you never want to end. Your host: a national treasure named Blanche.' Trent Dalton

'Blanche is an Australian original, with an extraordinary life story. This book contains pearls, insights and unexpected twists.' Peter FitzSimons

What secrets will Blanche d'Alpuget disclose to Derek Rielly over regular Friday lunches in her Sydney apartment? What was it like to be Australia's most notorious woman? Blanche discusses the domino effect her seminal biography on Bob Hawke had on the Labor Party and Australians, how vanity led her to spirituality and what it was like to survive breast cancer soon after Hawke's death.

An acclaimed writer, her work spans biography, fiction and essays. Blanche's ideas, in the current climate, are - to put it mildly - dangerous.

Among those interviewed for this revealing biography are Hawke's daughter Sue, Blanche's son Louis, her former husband Tony Pratt, writer Thomas Keneally, actor Miriam Margolyes and ALP kingmaker Graham Richardson.

Nothing is off limits in these deeply personal and wildly frank conversations. Blanche is refreshingly candid as she takes us inside one of Australia's great partnerships and explores the liberation of life, love and sex at 80.

Fridays with Blanche is d'Alpuget at her wise and witty best, matched by Rielly's curiosity and flair.