Emma's Mixtape

My friend, Rachel Resnick, published a book this week called 'Love Junkie'. It is an absolutely fearless memoir about how addiction to love and sex almost destroyed her life. Surviving a traumatic childhood, she lost herself each time in love affairs, abandoning her beliefs, neglecting her health, sublimating her dreams - like a heroin addict. In fact, as she explains, there is now a 12 Step program, akin to Alcoholics Anonymous, but for love/sex addicts. I think all of us can relate to the idea of obsessing over a lover so that you don't have to confront your own pain. Rachel and I have known each other for a long time (we met at a Martin Amis reading) and being - ahem - forceful personalities, we've battled over the years, she'd be the first to say (and did, in the Blackbook story about Tahiti that we wrote together). But we always come back to each other and that's because, apart from the love, we believe so strongly in each other's talent. It makes it surprisingly easy to let go of an argument when you think your friend has a rare gift. Her memoir is getting some great reviews, and her book signing was packed this weekend. It took forever to get to her because she photographed every single one of us in line, and wrote three paragraphs in everybody's book. The praise for Rachel is way overdue, but very gratifying for everyone who loves her and loves good writing. Only now, in her fourties, getting the respect she truly deserves, you could call her the Josh Brolin of authors.