The Far Side of the Moon cover art

The Far Side of the Moon

Trials of My Father

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The Far Side of the Moon

By: Clive Stafford Smith
Narrated by: Clive Stafford Smith
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

As one of our leading campaigners for justice, human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith has spent a lifetime getting to know his clients—from detainees in Guantánamo Bay to prisoners facing execution on Death Row—and finding out, in his own words, 'what makes them tick'.

But for much of his life, closer to home, there was a man whose mind remained off limits: his own father. It was only years after Dick's death, when Clive inherited more than 3,000 of his letters, that he could finally take a breath and start to piece together the obsessive personality behind them.

In The Far Side of the Moon, Stafford Smith seeks the broad conversation about mental illness that was not accessible in his earlier years, reflecting on his father's fragmented life together with that of Larry Lonchar, a client who also struggled with severe depression, and whose fate continues to preoccupy him.

Following the critically acclaimed Injustice, this courageous new book is an indictment of the failures in our social and justice systems, a meditation on privilege and its consequences and an intimate exploration of how the mind's hinterlands can impact a family and shape a life.

©2022 Clive Stafford Smith (P)2022 Penguin Audio Law Mental Health Professionals & Academics Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Health

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All stars
Most relevant
This book tells two stories simultaneously, one his father's life and the other his work on death row. I have to say I found the latter more interesting but I guess that's why I chose this book in the first place as that's how I've heard of him.

A meandering story

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This moved me on so many levels. I wanted to understand why CSM does what he does and this book helped me understand that and more.

I have no words

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