Cart
Free Shipping in Australia
Proud to be B-Corp

Clever Girl Brian Thompson

Clever Girl By Brian Thompson

Clever Girl by Brian Thompson


$13.69
Condition - Very Good
Only 2 left

Summary

'A work of utmost clarity and insight, a moving rite of passage through the embers of Empire and the stillness of a Fifties England not yet born anew... Almost every page contains an observation so baldly funny that you will wish to commit it to memory... Publishers know too well how many people think they can write a valuable memoir and how few really can.' -- Simon Garfield Observer.

Clever Girl Summary

Clever Girl: Growing Up in the 1950s by Brian Thompson

Longlisted for The Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2007

Brian Thompson never had to look very hard for trouble. His unorthodox childhood and his eccentric parents guaranteed that. But when, aged eighteen, Brian left home he was determined to enjoy a life of unstinting ordinariness, taking advantage of a Britain that would 'never have it so good'.

National Service led to foreign travel to Kenya, skirmishes with the Mau Mau and a request to fix the results of his platoon sergeant's English exam, one Idi Amin. Even when Brian was safe on English soil he was still confounded in his ambition to lead a quiet life. His limp attempt at University entrance - a single letter on some stolen NAAFI headed paper - led to admittance to Trinity College Cambridge and the niceties of middle class student life. And then there was rock and roll. And girls.

Suitably confused, Brian did what was considered to be the right thing. He married the Clever Girl.

Clever Girl Reviews

'Beautifully written, very funny.' -- Steven Poole * Guardian *
Brian Thompson can write... he is in a different league. -- Tom Payne * Daily Telegraph *
An enchantingly eccentric and entertaining book. -- Tom Rosenthal * Daily Mail *
Clever Girl is the panacea to all those misery memoirs choking the nation's bookstores. -- Ludovic Hunter-Tilney * Financial Times *
Deft and humorous... [Brian Thompson has] an Alan Bennett-like ear for the incongruous. -- Joan Bakewell * Guardian *
A wonderful book, by turns heartbreaking and deliriously funny. -- Diana Melly * Sunday Times *
A touching, comic masterpiece of a memoir. -- Melanie McGrath * Sunday Telegraph *

About Brian Thompson

Brian Thompson was born in Lambeth, London in 1935. After vigorous rescue remedies applied by two grammar schools, he read English at Cambridge. Since 1973 he has written for a living as a radio and television playwright and documentary film maker. His first volume of memoir, Keeping Mum, was published by Atlantic in 2006. He is also the author of several acclaimed biographies including A Monkey Among Crocodiles and The Nightmare of a Victorian Bestseller. He lives in Oxford.

Additional information

GOR001325152
9781843545453
1843545454
Clever Girl: Growing Up in the 1950s by Brian Thompson
Used - Very Good
Paperback
Atlantic Books
2007-09-13
256
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Clever Girl