A powerful memoir by an extraordinary literary figure; rugby player,
artist, acclaimed playwright and Booker Prize winning novelist.
The third son of a coalminer, David Storey takes us from his tough
upbringing in Wakefield, to being 'sold' to Leeds Rugby League Club, to
his escape to the Slade School of Art and his life in post-war London.
He describes shocking scenes in the seventeen deprived East End schools
in which he taught. He documents the childhood death of his eldest
brother, addressing much of the memoir to him and exploring how this
relates to his own sometimes paralysing depression, which haunted most
of his life. And yet, a prolific and celebrated writer, he recalls heady
spells in New York, close relationships in the theatre with Joycelyn
Herbert, Ralph Richardson and Lindsay Anderson, early success with This
Sporting Life, and winning the Booker Prize for his novel Saville.