Description
Book SynopsisHow do you become a writer, and why? Maggie Gee's journey starts a long way from the literary world in a small family in post-war Britain,. At seventeen, Maggie goes, a lamb to the slaughter, to university. From the 1960s onwards she lives the defining events of her generation: the coming of the Pill and sexual freedom, tremors in the British layer-cake of class and race. In the 1980s, Maggie finally gets published, falls in love, marries and has a daughter - but for the next three decades and beyond, she survives, and sometimes thrives, by writing. This frank, bold memoir dares to explore the big questions: success and failure, sex, death and parenthood - our animal life.
Trade Review'A wise and beautiful book about what it feels like to be alive - I really loved it' Zadie Smith 'Exceptionally interesting and brave - a wonderful book' Claire Tomalin 'Highly recommended for all aspiring writers' Bernardine Evaristo 'Read this vivid, minutely observed memoir' Sinclair McKay, Telegraph 'Fresh and funny - with a zest for living that bounces off the page' Psychologies 'A fine, honest, complex portrait of an artist's mind' Michele Roberts, Independent 'Every word strikes like a hammer on an anvil, throwing off sizzling sparks' Bidisha, The f word 'Maggie Gee writes with such courage and wit. This is a vivid portrait of a woman finding her way through the maze of class ridden post war England, the 60's, feminism and how to be a mother and a writer.' Diana Melly 'It is a testament to Gee's skill with structure, her lightness of touch and her honesty, particularly about the most painful episodes, that she has fashioned this account of a fundamentally satisfying and happy writer's life into such a page-turner.' Melissa Benn, New Statesman Observant, honest and sensitively-written, it will be required reading for all admirers of Maggie Gee's fiction. I greatly enjoyed it.' Michael Holroyd A beautifully wrought, perceptive and uplifting memoir'. The Good Book Guide
