Sally Amis

From The Times (London)

November 9, 2000, Thursday:

"Sally Amis, 46, the daughter of the late writer Kingsley Amis, has died after five days in intensive care. Her brother, Martin, the novelist, said that Miss Amis, who lived in London, had been depressed since their father's death in 1995 and had had caught an infection."

From the Amis Discussion Web--
and The Scotsman:

Topic:
Sally Amis's creepy & pathetic electra-complex
Conf: Martin Amis Discussion Web
From: S. Snead [sssnead@yahoo.com]
Date: Thursday, February 07, 2002 08:00 PM

from
"LAUGHTER AND LOST DAUGHTERS,
THE SCOTSMAN, 28 October 2001:

ALLAN BROWN SAID: "Her marriage in the 1980s to Nigel Slater, a wine merchant twice her age, lasted only six months, after which she found herself living in a church hostel. She later gave birth to a baby daughter following a one-night stand with an Irish alcoholic but the child, Catherine, was given up for adoption."
. . .

"Sally Amis made no secret of her unusual devotion to Kingsley. Speaking last year, she revealed that she kept his ashes in an urn atop her fireplace, admitted that she missed her father 'amazingly' and that she watched an edition of THE SOUTH BANK SHOW featuring him 'fifty times a day'."

ALLAN BROWN SAID: "She was a manic-depressive, an alcoholic and had never recovered from the death of Kingsley. 'Four years on', Amis wrote, 'Sally is still capable of calling me in tears when she is having a "bad Dad day.'"

ALLAN BROWN ON MARTIN AMIS'S EGOMANIACAL WISHFUL-THINKING: "Amis has a fair idea what motivates this compounding enmity, although
he is uncharacteristically reticent to name it: 'Valued reader, it is not for me to say this is envy', he writes in his memoir EXPERIENCE. 'It is for you to say that this is envy.' I mention that this seems a rather disingenuous, perhaps cowardly way of attacking his detractors: 'Disingenuous? Well, let's describe it as artful', he concedes."

Topic:
MA defends Sally Amis's honor
Conf: Martin Amis Discussion Web
From: L. Trevino [lusciouslee9iron@hotmail.com]
Date: Thursday, February 07, 2002 08:40 PM

MA'S LETTER TO THE SCOTSMAN: "I have only just seen your Sunday Encounter piece of October 28, 2001. Your correspondent, Allan Brown, has looked into the clippings file and has reproduced some ungenerous
inaccuracies about my sister. My sister's baby daughter was not the result of 'a one-night stand'; in fact, she cohabited for some time with the father. More generally, the impression is given that my sister lived in penury and neglect. Not so. She was in full contact with every member of her family, and her will disposed of a considerable legacy."

Topic:
MA defends Sally's honor but where's her kid?
Conf: Martin Amis Discussion Web
From: jules [jwells7908@aol.com]
Date: Thursday, February 07, 2002 11:51 PM

But, Martin, where is your niece now? Am I right in understanding that Sally's baby was adopted out? I know you loved Sally and defended her often, having much compassion for your sister's problems; but surely, someone in the Amis clan must have offered to be the ward and custodian of Sally's child's to keep an Amis issue in the family! For Goodness sake, who cares how many nights Sally spent with her baby's father? To whom was this Amis given (away) Does not blood count? I hope that reporter was wrong, but you didn't say a thing about Sal's kid.

Oh, and Lee, (Trevino..Right~) to think you suggested that "moi" was "tactless" in describing Sally here once. I merely mentioned that Mart was concerned about his sister's dipsomania. What this reporter wrote is typical Fleet Street fare: Character-kill (even if maybe partly—if not more-factual, it isn't cricket.

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