Sara Davidson, a young reporter, met Joan before she became Joan Didion—the beloved author of best-selling books that people would carry around and quote. Joan was deeply private, but she let down her guard with Sara, who would write Loose Change and other books. They shared meals, laughter, and stayed up late, talking about the craft of writing, marriage, raising their children, and why Joan refused an advance from Warren Beatty. Funny, intimate, and deep, this is the Joan Didion you’ve never seen, behind the books, dark gasses, and the camera.
“I think The Didion Files is a masterpiece. It captures Joan’s inner life with a lovely and humorous precision. The anecdotes are wonderful, and Sara’s recounting of her own life, both in writing, love, and spirit, is essential and results in a fantastic depiction of friendship. The book should mean so much to Didion lovers and aspiring writers.” —Will Blythe, literary critic and author of To Hate Like This is to be Happy Forever.
“I read Davidson’s book this afternoon. It is loving and funny and generous. I loved the many details of Didion’s life, and Davidson’s as well, which made me smile.” —Susannah Moore, author of In the Cut
“In this remarkable book, Sara Davidson brings her long relationship with Joan Didion alive with insight, candor, and love— available nowhere else—and an elegance worthy of its subject. —Danny Goldberg, author of Serving The Servant: Remembering Kurt Cobain
“Sara Davidson has given us a portrait of Joan Didion that perhaps no one else could—as a close friend of fifty years, and also as an acclaimed journalist who interviewed Didion many times and kept all her notes. In a fast and vivid read, The Didion Filescaptures the real and sympathetic woman behind the literary legend.” —Mark Whitaker, former editor of Newsweek and author of Saying it Loud.