Without Warning and Only Sometimes

Scenes from an Unpredictable Childhood

Without Warning and Only Sometimes
Kit De Waal
RRP:
NZ$ 37.99
Our Price:
NZ$ 30.39
Paperback
h234 x 153mm - 304pg
18 Aug 2022 UK
International import eta 7-19 days
9781472284846
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
' Vivid and compelling and so moving. . . Kit' s depiction of her parents' dynamic is both painful and comforting to read' Marian KeyesFrom the award-winning author of MY NAME IS LEON comes a childhood memoir set to become a classic: stinging, warm-hearted, and true. Kit de Waal grew up in a household of opposites and extremes. Her haphazard mother rarely cooked, forbade Christmas and birthdays, worked as a cleaner, nurse and childminder sometimes all at once and believed the world would end in 1975. Meanwhile, her father stuffed barrels full of goodies for his relatives in the Caribbean, cooked elaborate meals on a whim and splurged money they didn' t have on cars, suits and shoes fit for a prince. Both of her parents were waiting for paradise. It never came. Caught between three worlds, Irish, Caribbean and British in 1960s Birmingham, Kit and her brothers and sisters knew all the words to the best songs, caught sticklebacks in jam jars and braved hunger and hellfire until they could all escape. WITHOUT WARNING AND ONLY SOMETIMES is a story of an extraordinary childhood and how a girl who grew up in house where the Bible was the only book on offer went on to discover a love of reading that inspires her to this day.
Kit' s writing is beautiful - vivid and compelling, and so moving. Families are such a mix of joy and pain and Kit' s depiction of her parents' dynamic was both painful and comforting to read. There' s so much love, warmth and hope. I wanted to keep reading this book for ever -- Marian Keyes I loved it and couldn' t put it down. Both joyous and heartbreaking, it captures an era and is also a beautiful tribute to sibling love, and a completely compelling story of how one girl became a reader -- Cathy Rentzenbrink A window into an extraordinary childhood, told with blistering wit, pathos and joy, I could not have loved this more. Kit takes you on a thrilling ride traversing her past filled with humour, faith, joy and dysfunction. I defy you not to lake it into your heart -- Abi Morgan I couldn' t put this book down. Beautifully written and searingly honest. Eye-opening, funny and moving - the words fly off the page. I didn' t want this book to end Kit de Waal is a natural born storyteller -- Paul McVeigh Warm, honest, perceptive and moving, and the very best kind of memoir, because not only does it tell you about someone else' s life, it tells you about your own -- Joanna Cannon
Kit de Waal is the author of the novels MY NAME IS LEON, which was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year, and THE TRICK TO TIME, which was longlisted for the Women' s Prize for Fiction, and a short story collection, SUPPORTING CAST. She is also editor of the COMMON PEOPLE anthology, and co-founder of the Big Book Weekend festival. MY NAME IS LEON is being adapted as a one-hour film for BBC1.
Status: Active
ISBN-13: 9781472284846
Published: 18 Aug 2022
Published In: United Kingdom
Imprint: Tinder Press
Publisher: Headline Publishing Group
Format: Paperback
Height: 234mm
Width: 153mm
Pages: 304

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