Harold Pinter’s plays are famous for an atmosphere of menace, for a particular kind of psychological violence. Though much-loved, the playwright was regarded personally as a bit of a cantankerous tyrant. But the recollections of Antonia Fraser, Pinter's wife of 33 years and an author herself, paint a very different picture of the celebrated writer.

Talking to Lucasta Miller about her recent memoir, Must You Go: My Life With Harold Pinter, Fraser was warm, witty and affectionate about her late husband. When Miller repeatedly stressed the differences between the two, Fraser countered with the things they shared. She read from the poetry he wrote for her and described a kind man who loved her deeply and unwaveringly.

For those who had read the book and those who hadn't, the event was a chance to see Fraser bring some very funny anecdotes to life, and she is an eager and accomplished raconteur and conversationalist. The same can’t be said of Miller who, despite being a prolific writer and latter day friend of Pinter herself, seemed uncomfortable throughout.

Discussing her diaries, on which the memoir is based, Fraser recalled that she began keeping them after finishing her first book to assuage a feeling of being bereft. Events such as this one are undoubtedly doing the same work, helping her and her audience after the loss of a man loved and admired by so many.