If You Don't Know Me by Now: A Memoir of Love, Secrets and Lies in Wolverhampton($50.74Value)

Description

SOON TO BE A BBC DRAMA The Boy with the Topknot: A Memoir of Love, Secrets and Lies in Wolverhampton is a hilarious and heart-rending reinvention of the modern British memoir. "It's 1979, I'm three years old, and like all breakfast times during my youth it begins with Mum combing my hair, a ritual for which I have to sit down on the second-hand, floral-patterned settee, and lean forward, like I'm presenting myself for execution."For Sathnam Sanghera, growing up in Wolverhampton in the eighties was a confusing business. On the one hand, these were the heady days of George Michael mix-tapes, Dallas on TV and, if he was lucky, the occasional Bounty Bar. On the other, there was his wardrobe of tartan smocks, his 30p-an-hour job at the local sewing factory and the ongoing challenge of how to tie the perfect top-knot.And then there was his family, whose strange and often difficult behaviour he took for granted until, at the age of twenty-four, Sathnam made a discovery that changed everything he ever thought he knew about them. Equipped with breathtaking courage and a glorious sense of humour, he embarks on a journey into their extraordinary past - from his father's harsh life in rural Punjab to the steps of the Wolverhampton Tourist Office - trying to make sense of a life lived among secrets. SOON TO BE A BBC DRAMA The Boy with the Topknot: A Memoir of Love, Secrets and Lies in Wolverhampton is a hilarious and heart-rending reinvention of the modern British memoir. "It's 1979, I'm three years old, and like all breakfast times during my youth it begins with Mum combing my hair, a ritual for which I have to sit down on the second-hand, floral-patterned settee, and lean forward, like I'm presenting myself for execution."For Sathnam Sanghera, growing up in Wolverhampton in the eighties was a confusing business. On the one hand, these were the heady days of George Michael mix-tapes, Dallas on TV and, if he was lucky, the occasional Bounty Bar. On the other, there was his wardrobe of tartan smocks, his 30p-an-hour job at the local sewing factory and the ongoing challenge of how to tie the perfect top-knot.And then there was his family, whose strange and often difficult behaviour he took for granted until, at the age of twenty-four, Sathnam made a discovery that changed everything he ever thought he knew about them. Equipped with breathtaking courage and a glorious sense of humour, he embarks on a journey into their extraordinary past - from his father's harsh life in rural Punjab to the steps of the Wolverhampton Tourist Office - trying to make sense of a life lived among secrets. I absolutely loved it. Heartbreaking and wonderful. He writes beautifully -- Maggie O'Farrell Could not be more enjoyable, engaging or moving * Observer * About real secrets, in a real quest for understanding. It's tragic, funny and disturbing. It will challenge you, and may even change you -- Carole Angier * Independent * Hilarious, engaging, tragicomic -- Meg Rosoff * Guardian * 'Gripping and entertaining, horrifying and tender ... Exposes all those things we take for granted as we grow up -- Hardeep Singh Kohli * The Times * Fans of Nick Hornby and Jonathan Coe will love this book * Psychologies * Gripping, tender ... recalls A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius * Time Out * Told with enormous compassion and dry wit. The climax had me on the edge of my seat * Jonathan Coe * Funny, heartfelt * Marie Claire * Hugely enjoyable * New Statesman * Funny and revealing * Sunday Times * Marvellous. A book which manages to be colourful, funny, heart-breaking and shocking ... there's a dry wit and unexpectedness about this tale that kept me on my toes throughout * Irish Examiner * Intimate and funny * Metro * Moving * The London Paper * Moving * Sunday Times * Harrowing and impossible to put down * Evening Standard * The most moving debut we've read in ages * Elle * Could not be more enjoyable, engaging or moving * Observer * Fans of Nick Hornby and Jonathan Coe will love this book * Psychologies * Gripping, tender ... recalls A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius * Time Out * Told with enormous compassion and dry wit. The climax had me on the edge of my seat * Jonathan Coe * Funny, heartfelt * Marie Claire * Hugely enjoyable * New Statesman * Funny and revealing * Sunday Times * Marvellous. A book which manages to be colourful, funny, heart-breaking and shocking ... there's a dry wit and unexpectedness about this tale that kept me on my toes throughout * Irish Examiner * Intimate and funny * Metro * Moving * The London Paper * Moving * Sunday Times * Harrowing and impossible to put down * Evening Standard * The most moving debut we've read in ages * Elle * 'Gripping and entertaining, horrifying and tender ... Exposes all those things we take for granted as we grow up -- Hardeep Singh Kohli * The Times * Sathnam Sanghera was born in 1976. He is an award-winning journalist who was previously chief feature writer at The Financial Times and no