From Willingdon to Lyttelton, a memoir about love, learning and the journey to thirty

Joe Bennett is the author of countless columns, over twenty books, and now, at long last, a memoir. From There to Here describes a childhood of fishing, cricket, friends, a dog, some mild molestation and a few deaths. There's the long-haired gloom and vehemence of adolescence. There's love and heartache, an urge to write and a fruitless struggle against teaching for a living. Superbly written, of course, and laugh-out-loud funny in places, but it's also honest, unsparing, unexpected and moving.

'Every now and then in the twilight the door of the pub would open and emit a great sough of smoke and light and adult laughter and it seemed the most wonderful place in the world, the place you wanted to be.'