A Brush With Jeff and Other Essays

"One should be light like a bird and not like a feather," wrote the French poet Paul Valéry.

In this collection of personal and playful essays, J. E. Chadwick explores lightness - how to let go of whatever weighs you down.

Chadwick discovers the art of walking around European cities and the surprising truth about cooking for forty silent strangers. He reveals how to survive a narcissist (especially if it's you), when to fire and rehire one's mind, and offers three words to live by. Readers will meet Hirayama, the toilet-cleaning protagonist of Wim Wenders' Perfect Days, and rediscover Luna Luna, the greatest lost art story ever told.

But there's a twist. This is not the book Chadwick intended to write; A Brush With Jeff was seduced by the idea it contained - lightness.

This magpied collection is for anyone who yearns for a more joyful existence and is ready to grow lighter, but with control, like a bird.