Chris Day's Review

Regarded as one of the UK’s greatest writers, Howard Jacobson has written about has life before he wrote his first novel, when he was forty, and winning the Booker Prize in 2010. Born in Manchester to working class immigrants from east Europe, his father followed many trades in pursuit of a living. Jacobson goes on to describe with humour his Jewish life, his mother and his family, his educational experiences at Cambridge, his marriages and his time in Australia. Along the way, he performed many different jobs to make ends meet including working on a market stall and teaching at schools and universities. These experiences enabled him to understand himself as a background to his writing and his cutting observations.

Other Reviews

'A wonderful memoir, written with great linguistic brio. Candid, shrewd and moving - a classic of its kind.' - William Boyd

'Laugh-out-loud glorious and uproarious of course - but don't let the self-ribbing fool you; this is deep and poignant.' Simon Schama

Howard Jacobson's funny, revealing and tender memoir of his path to becoming a writer