Family & Childhood

Bill Bryson on his most personal journey yet: into his own childhood in America's Mid-West. Some say that the first hint that Bill Bryson was not of Planet Earth came when his mother sent him to school in lime-green Capri pants. Others think it all started with his discovery, at the age of six, of a... More

Tragic, comic and incomparable: an autobiographical epic and a comedie humaine for our times, which is both the portrait of an artist and the story of the birth of a nation, spanning several generations and moving with them from Russia, Lithuania, Love and darkness are just two of the powerful force... More

This is top food writer Nigel Slater's eat-and-tell autobiography. Detailing all the food, recipes and cooking that have marked his passage from greedy schoolboy to great food writer, this is also a catalogue of how the British have eaten over the last three decades. "Toast" is Nigel Slater's truly ... More

Some say that the first hint that Bill Bryson was not of Planet Earth came when his mother sent him to school in lime-green Capri pants. Others think it all started with his discovery, at the age of six, of a woollen jersey of rare fineness. Across the moth-holed chest was a golden thunderbolt. It m... More

"OUTRAGEOUSLY AMUSING."--"Entertainment Weekly""COMPELLING."--"USA"" Today""BREATHTAKING."--"Tampa"" Tribune" THINK YOUR CHILDHOOD WAS WEIRD?ENTER THIS TWELVE-YEAR-OLD'S WACKY WORLD... RUNNING WITH SCISSORS is the true story of a boy whose mother (a poet with delusions of Anne Sexton) gave him away ... More

In this luminous memoir, Chanrithy Him takes readers into the chaotic world of the Khmer Rouge. Over the course of four years five members of her family, including her parents, die, and so do nearly two million other Khmer. Out of shards of memory, she has assembled a spirited account of coming of a... More

Chanrithy Him felt compelled to tell of surviving life under the Khmer Rouge in a way "worthy of the suffering which I endured as a child". In the Cambodian proverb, "when broken glass floats" is the time when evil triumphs over good. That time began in 1975, when the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambo... More

In the tradition of Mary Karr's "The Liars' Club" and Rick Bragg's "All Over But the Shouting," Walls has written a stunning and life-affirming memoir about surviving a willfully impoverished, eccentric, and severely misguided family.Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn non... More

From one of the most beloved and bestselling authors in the English language comes a vivid, nostalgic, and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the middle of the United States in the middle of the last century.From one of the most beloved and bestselling authors in the English language, a vivid... More

A "New York Times" Notable BookA "Time Magazine" "Best Comix of the Year"A "San Francisco Chronicle "and "Los Angeles Times" Best-seller Wise, funny, and heartbreaking, "Persepolis" is Marjane Satrapi's memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic str... More

In Persepolis, heralded by the Los Angeles Times as "one of the freshest and most original memoirs of our day," Marjane Satrapi dazzled us with her heartrending memoir-in-comic-strips about growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Here is the continuation of her fascinating story.In 1984, M... More

In Persepolis, heralded by the Los Angeles Times as "one of the freshest and most original memoirs of our day, " Marjane Satrapi dazzled us with her heartrending memoir-in-comic-strips about growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Here is the continuation of her fascinating story. In 1984,... More

Colors of the Mountain is a classic story of triumph over adversity, a memoir of a boyhood full of spunk, mischief, and love, and a welcome introduction to an amazing young writer. Da Chen was born in 1962, in the Year of Great Starvation. Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution engulfed millions of Chines... More

An international bestseller, the extraordinary diary that awakened the world's conscience is now updated with a new Introduction by the author. "The only bright thing to come from [Sarajevo's] recent history."--"USA Today."When "Zlataas Diary" was first published at the height of the Bosnian conflic... More

Long before Oliver Sacks became a distinguished neurologist and bestselling writer, he was a small English boy fascinated by metals-also by chemical reactions (the louder and smellier the better), photography, squids and cuttlefish, H.G. Wells, and the periodic table. In this endlessly charming and ... More

At seven years old, Martin Booth found himself with all of Hong Kong at his feet. His father was posted there in 1952, and this memoir is his telling of that youth, a time when he had access to the corners of a colony normally closed to a "Gweilo," a "pale fellow" like him. His experiences were colo... More

At seven years old, Martin Booth found himself with all of Hong Kong at his feet. His father was posted there in 1952, and this memoir is his telling of that youth, a time when he had access to the corners of a colony normally closed to a "Gweilo," a "pale fellow" like him. His experiences were colo... More

"Toast" is Slater's extraordinary story of a childhood remembered through food. A bestseller and award-winner in the United Kingdom, "Toast" is sure to delight both foodies and memoir readers on this side of the pond.Toast is Nigel Slateras truly extraordinary story of a childhood remembered through... More