A Lie About My Father

John Burnside

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QTY:

English

Vintage
15 March 2007

Biography; Biography: general; Biography: literary; Memoirs; Family & relationships

Series: Burnside Biographies

A breathtakingly beautiful memoir of childhood, A Lie About My Father was the Saltire Scottish Book of the Year and the Scottish Arts Council Non-Fiction Book of the Year.

A moving, unforgettable memoir of two lost men- a father and his child.

He had his final heart attack in the Silver Band Club in Corby, somewhere between the bar and the cigarette machine. A foundling; a fantasist; a morose, threatening drinker who was quick with his hands, he hadn't seen his son for years.

John Burnside's extraordinary story of this failed relationship is a beautifully written evocation of a lost and damaged world of childhood and the constants of his father's world- men defined by the drink they could take and the pain they could stand, men shaped by their guilt and machismo.

A Lie About My Father is about forgiving but not forgetting, about examining the way men are made and how they fall apart, about understanding that in order to have a good son you must have a good father.

'Memoir this good illuminates something larger than itself. It is an exercise in understanding, compassion and forgiveness' Sunday Telegraph

Saltire Scottish Book of the Year and the Scottish Arts Council Non-Fiction Book of the Year.

By: John Burnside
Imprint: Vintage
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: New edition
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 31mm, Spine: 21mm
Weight: 235g
ISBN: 9780099479536
ISBN 10: 0099479532
Series: Burnside Biographies
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 15 March 2007
Audience: General/trade , Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , ELT Advanced , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

John Burnside has published five works of fiction and nine collections of poetry, including The Asylum Dance, which won the 2000 Whitbread Poetry Award.

Reviews for A Lie About My Father

""Compelling and profoundly moving... This exquisitely written memoir is, literally, a journey into a heart of darkness - a darkness here lit up by beauty and truth"" Independent ""An exceptional book... A brilliant feat of sympathy and imagination"" Financial Times ""Burnside's prose is a delight...Memoir this good illuminates something larger than itself. It is an exercise in understanding compassion and forgiveness"" -- Melanie McGrath Sunday Telegraph ""[An] exquisitely written memoir"" -- Paul Bailey Sunday Times ""Destined to become a classic of Scots childhood... A beautiful read, but also a brutal one"" Scotland on Sunday