There's Something I've Been Dying to Tell You Synopsis
In 2013 Lynda Bellingham was diagnosed with cancer. Having kept the details of her illness private, now for the very first time Lynda talks with beautiful poignancy about her life since her diagnosis, her family and how together they came to terms with a future they hadn't planned. Though this is a brave and brutally honest memoir, Lynda manages to spread her infectious warmth and humour bringing light to a very dark time. Woven into this very moving and brave story are extraordinary, colourful tales of her acting and family life that will enlighten and entertain as well as the journey that Lynda has taken to find the family of her birth father having already suffered heartache in her search for her birth mother. In the search for her father's family, Lynda finds a family with a history in entertainment showing that acting was always in the blood.
'Her brilliantly titled book, There's Something I've Been Dying to Tell You, charts the unravelling of that delusion, and her determination to wrest a meaningful life out of sudden chaos. By turns, it is riotous, deeply serious, practical and sad. Reading it is like being at her kitchen table with a glass of wine to hand. Not just listening to the expletives of pain or the dawning of reality, but rooting for her when the treatment appears to be working, sharing her fears as her life expectation dwindles, and rocking with laughter at the absurdities that go with having the least sexy cancer of them all. Her description of the mechanics of dealing with a stoma bag in the ladies at Buckingham Palace, when she accepted her OBE in March, reads like a comedy script.' Daily Telegraph
'Bellingham has started a necessary conversation where often there is silence. The rest of us look on at these extraordinary people and wonder how we ourselves would manage. I am so grateful that such people are speaking out, now while they can.' Guardian
'I laughed and I cried. The strength shines through in the whole book and the honesty. A fantastic woman.' Coleen Nolan
Author
About Lynda Bellingham
Lynda Bellingham enjoyed a career spanning 45 years. She was much loved as the warm, open and quick-witted panellist on Loose Women as well as for her appearances on Strictly Come Dancing and Calendar Girls. Her acting career had many highlights, including All Creatures Great and Small: she is still loved and remembered as the long-suffering mum in the Oxo commercials. In 2014 Lynda was awarded the OBE. Lynda died on 20th October 2014.
