The Uptown Local: Joy, Death, and Joan Didion: A Memoir

A brilliant debut memoir about a young writer—struggling with depression, family issues, and addiction—and his life-changing decade working for Joan Didion

As an aspiring novelist in his early twenties, Cory Leadbeater was presented with an opportunity to work for a well-known writer whose identity was kept confidential. Since the tumultuous days of childhood, Cory had sought refuge from the rougher parts of life in the pages of books. Suddenly, he found himself the personal assistant to a titan of literature: Joan Didion.

In the nine years that followed, Cory shared Joan’s rarefied world, transformed not only by her blazing intellect but by her generous friendship and mentorship. Together they recited poetry in the mornings, dined with Supreme Court justices, attended art openings, smoked a single cigarette before bed.

But secretly, Cory was spiraling. He reeled from the death of a close friend. He spent his weekends at a federal prison, visiting his father as he served time for fraud. He struggled day after day to write the novel that would validate him as a real writer. And meanwhile, the forces of addiction and depression loomed large.

In hypnotic prose that pulses with life and longing, The Uptown Local explores the fault lines of class, family, loss, and creativity. It is a love letter to a cultural icon—and a moving testament to the relationships that sustain us in the eternal pursuit of a life worth living.

This raw, unflinching literary memoir is a story of two worlds colliding—one of intellectual glamour, the other of private grief.

• A Literary Mentorship: Go inside the rarefied world of a cultural icon, from morning poetry recitations to dinners with Supreme Court justices, and witness the generous friendship that shaped a young writer’s life.
• Mental Health and Addiction: A courageous look at the secret struggle with depression and the looming forces of addiction, even while living at the center of the New York literary scene.
• Family Secrets: Explore the fault lines of class and family as the author spends his weekends visiting his father in a federal prison, grappling with a legacy of fraud and loss.
• A Coming of Age Story: A deeply moving account of navigating a life-changing decade, searching for creative validation while reeling from the death of a close friend and the eternal pursuit of a life worth living.