Melvyn Bragg's first ever memoir - an elegiac, intimate account of
growing up in post-war Cumbria, which vividly evokes a vanished world.
'The best thing he's ever written . . . What a world he captures here.
You can almost smell it' Rachel Cooke, Observer
'Wonderfully rich, endearing and unusual . . . a balanced, honest
picture' Richard Benson, Mail on Sunday
In this elegiac and heartfelt memoir, Melvyn Bragg recreates his youth
in the Cumbrian market town of Wigton: a working-class boy who expected
to leave school at fifteen yet who gained a scholarship to Oxford
University; who happily roamed the streets and raided orchards with his
gang of friends until a breakdown in adolescence drove him to find
refuge in books.
Vividly evoking the post-war era, Bragg draws an indelible portrait of
all that formed him: a community-spirited northern town, still steeped
in the old ways; the Lake District landscapes that inspired him; and the
many remarkable people in his close-knit world.
'A charming account of a lost era, full of details and often lyrical
descriptions of people and places . . . fascinating and often moving'
Christina Patterson, Sunday Times
