Childhood Memoir

Brendan Murray redefines memoir in this haunting excavation of his own experiences as a child, teacher and parent to discover why imagination is so important throughout our lives. Why do some children grow up into happy lives, and others never make it? Brendan James Murray's childhood was one of...

"I felt like killing myself." That's the sentence Paula Axelrod couldn't say out loud, until a poster taped to a dormitory wall gave her somewhere to go. What followed was twenty years of therapy spent unpacking a childhood ruled by an alcoholic father, a mother's own eating disorder, and a family that made love feel dangerous. It's the story of a miscarriage, a lost sense of self, and the slow, unglamorous work of finding her way back, through psychoanalysis, through painting, and eventually into a forty-year marriage and a son adopted from Romania. This isn't a polished self help book.

Read by the author. Using the written word as her witness statement, Jessica Willis Fisher gives a lacerating portrait of a girl finding her voice after years of being silenced and an unforgettable story of risk and faith. Growing up the eldest daughter in a large, highly controlled...

It was an ordinary day in 2016. In Gatwick Airport, Jonathan and his wife, Anna, were having breakfast with their two little children while waiting for their flight to be called. And then it happened, a familiar sensation that Jonathan hadn't had for decades: an out-of-body experience that transported him to another place, the safe place he used to escape to in his mind when he was a boy.

The collection begins in the 1950s in an insular northern village 'scoured by bitter winds and rough gossip tongues.' For the child narrator, the only way to survive is to get up, get on, get out. The title story sees our narrator ironing out her northern vowels with the help of an ex-actress...

In this immersive, spell-binding memoir, an acclaimed screenwriter tells the story of her childhood growing up with the infamous Lyman Family cult—and the complicated and unexpected pain of leaving the only home she’d ever known A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR On January 5, 1975, the...

**THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ** 'Funny and frank, a chance to spend time with a brave and big-hearted woman who's grown up to be not so mean, after all' JENNIFER LARUE, WASHINGTON POST 'Grabs you by the collar and says listen to all that I have to say: about love, pain, motherhood...

This is the story of John McGahern's childhood - of his mother's death, his father's anger and bafflement, and of his own discovery of literature and his ambition to become a writer. At the heart of the book is an unembarrassed homage by a loving son to a woman who protected him and his sisters from his father's unpredictable moods. His joy in her presence is recovered with great lyrical tact.

This audiobook is narrated by an AI Voice. Step into the evocative, beautifully blurred world of memory and imagination with A Story Teller's Story by Sherwood Anderson. In this deeply reflective and poetic audiobook, Anderson explores the eternal struggle between stark reality and the sweet...

"It’s a dark story that forced me to think more expansively about what constitutes a cult." —The New York Times' Ernesto Londoño "Although this is Mestyanek Young’s first time narrating, listeners will appreciate hearing this deeply personal story told by the author herself. Share with...

Brought to you by Penguin. 'Hunger was a constant, reliable friend in Mei Guo. She came second only to loneliness.' In China she was the daughter of professors. In Brooklyn her family is illegal. Qian is just seven when she moves to America, the 'Beautiful Country', where she and her parents...

'Della's story is tragic, shocking and heart-breaking, but she must be heard. Della is an inspirational and dedicated campaigner who I've been proud to support. Her book eloquently portrays her past vulnerability and her steadfast determination to help others. A must read' Sarah Champion, MP...

By the age of nine, I will have lived in more than a dozen countries, on five continents, under six assumed identities. I’ll know how a document is forged, how to withstand an interrogation, and most important, how to disappear . . . To the young Cheryl Diamond, life felt like one big...

My name is BUDO. I have been alive for 5 years, a very long time for someone like me to be alive. MAX gave me my name. Max is 8 years old. He is the only human person who can see me. I know what Max knows, and some things he doesn't. I know that Max is in danger. And I know that I am the only...

'Deliciously gossipy and amusingly trenchant' Daily Mail, BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR 'A delightful memoir' Kate Saunders, The Times 'Fabulous . . . dazzling' Tatler 'Enchanting . . . movingly lyrical' Ysenda Maxtone Graham, Country Life This short volume has turned out to be merely a handful of...

This is my inspirational true story of childhood sexual abuse that I endured. The abuse was a secret, even to me, due to the fact that all the painful images were locked up in my subconscious for close to 37 years.

In A British Childhood Frank Cottrell-Boyce tells the story of what it means to be young in Britain today and the consequences of growing up at the sharp end of two major crises – the pandemic and austerity. During his time as Children’s Laureate he visited schools that had been forced to...

Published in 1913, My Childhood is the first in an autobiographical trilogy by the Russian writer and five-time Nobel Prize-nominee Maxim Gorky. Painfully moving in places, the book tells of the experiences of a young boy who goes to live with his grandparents following the death of his father. Gorky’s depiction of 19th-century Russia through the eyes of his younger self is remarkable. As he recalls memories of his youth, contrasting themes and emotions are revealed, from barbaric joy to dark gloom, genuine cruelty and saint-like forbearance.

By the award-winning author of Team of Rivals and The Bully Pulpit, Wait Till Next Year is Doris Kearns Goodwin’s touching memoir of growing up in love with her family and baseball. Set in the suburbs of New York in the 1950s, Wait Till Next Year re-creates the postwar era, when the corner...

From award-winning actor and comedian Paul Scheer, a candid and hilarious memoir-in-essays on coming to terms with childhood trauma and finding the joy in embracing your authentic self, featuring content exclusive to the audio edition, including excerpts from live shows and audio clips from home...