Jill is and was a true inspirational hero and support for a lot of gay men who suffered through the very worst of the AIDs pandemic. Thank God for people like [Jill] who got up, stood up and said, "We need to do something about this.

Make sure you do not have a mouthful of drink when you read about the guy who lives opposite the Pink Palace. 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 one gig after another. Growing up through the 80’s I witnessed the war years and this book takes me right back to the time and london.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 she could get.

Considering the work involved, the is little in the book about her role in West End Cares, her legendary cabaret fundraisers, and the thousands raised for the Crusaid hardship fund. 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.Hotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's daily session limit. Far far too many references to theatres and plays, which lost me as someone who is not familiar with that world. This book resonated with me because I was around Jill's age and just starting University at the start of the AIDS crisis and this is such a valuable addition to the history books of that period.

For myself I understand the attractions around male homosexuality, and drag to an extent, but I admit am deaf to the appeal of show tunes become addictive. She is a successful West End actress and was the inspiration behind Jill Baxter's character in Russell T. I enjoyed that Nalder also focuses on the wide reaching horrors of the AIDS pandemic and shows how loved those who suffered were.Author Jill Nalder is the inspiration behind the character of Jill in It's A Sin (a brilliant show if you haven't seen it), and that's how I found out about this book and knew I needed to read it.

For them 'coming out' was partly about saying that the baggage sex came with in somebody else's past. This book will make you cry and as Jill took the time to educate the reader about the wonderful people who were Colin, Derek, Juan and Dursley - and the many, many others who lost their lives, I knew if I allowed it, I would just become a bawling mess. The author talks a little about the process of the 'coming out' part, but she keeps to herself the most private revelations the young men reveal to her as she plays 'mother hen'/parental substitute to them in different settings. Warning to anyone with the slightest resistance to writing about friendships formed through singing show tunes; they will wonder quite what the fuss is about with this book, and will wonder quite where the author is coming from. I actually liked how Jill made some references to the Covid-19 pandemic in her book, as really it's one of the closest things we have now in modern memory to compare to the terrifying era that was the AIDS epidemic including the fear and vilifying of a particular group of people.But the inability to suppress same sex desire is more complex than either parent or young man can understand, but the young men at least try to understand-and create a model that other young men in less open circumstances may try to adapt. Beautiful young man after beautiful young man reaching an untimely loss due to a virus that is barely recognisable in the UK today. 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. This story is a mix of things - creativity, and artistic dreams as well as friendship and family (both born and found), strength, grief, and most of all love.