My Father's Fortune: A Life

Author: Frayn, Michael

Brand: Penguin Random House

Edition: Main

Binding: paperback

Number Of Pages: 272

Release Date: 25-10-2011

Details: Product Description


'An unknown place.' This was what Michael Frayn's children called the shadowy landscape of the past from which their family had emerged. Shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards, My Father's Fortune sets out to rediscover that lost land before all trace of it finally disappears beyond recall. As Frayn tries to see it through the eyes of his parents and the others who shaped his life, he comes to realise how little he ever knew or understood about them.This is above all the story of his father, the quick-witted boy from a poor and struggling family, who overcame disadvantages and shouldered many burdens to make a go of his life; who found happiness, had it snatched away from him, and in the end, after many difficulties, perhaps found it again.Father and son were in some ways incredibly alike, in others ridiculously different; and the journey back down the corridors of time is sometimes comic, sometimes painful, as Michael Frayn comes to see how much he has inherited from his father and makes one or two surprising discoveries along the way. Michael Frayn is the celebrated author of fifteen plays including Noises Off, Copenhagen and Afterlife. His bestselling novels include Headlong, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Spies, which won the Whitbread Best Novel Award and Skios, which was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.


Review


'This lovely, loving memoir is an attempt to quantify that legacy, written with effortless humour and grace.' -- Metro >> 'It's often very funny, always very interesting, and soaked in a wistful sort of melancholy that sometimes deepens into a compelling sadness... Frayn has written books that make a bigger bang than this, but none so that is so touching.' -- Andrew Motion, Guardian >> 'A profound delight... With deft, witty touches, he resurrects the past.' -- Charlotte Moore, Spectator >> 'My Father's Fortune shows him at his very best. He expresses in a few words what it would take other writers several paragraphs to convey... And of course he is also extremely funny, possessing a quietly ironic tone that is pleasantly teasing and often self-mocking...the ease and fluidity of Frayn's prose... In the end, Frayn has written a letter of love not just to his father, but to his mother too.' -- Elizabeth Day, Observer >> 'A profoundly affecting study of family myths and legends.' -- DJ Taylor, Financial Times >> 'Forever alert to the inner processes of art and mind Frayn from time to time cuts away and nips backstage to show how the memoir machinery works. Yet, almost miraculously, this keen self-awareness never compromises the deep poignancy - and the rich comedy - of the story he has to tell. Here, as always, that's part of the trick of it for Frayn.' -- Boyd Tonkin, Independent >> 'What Frayn presents us with is an effort to establish his own identity by exploring "the unknown place" represented in his origins. It is, as one would expect from so accomplished a writer, beautifully done... he is wonderfully good on atmosphere.' -- New Statesman >> '[A] vividly written and moving memoir.' -- Evening Standard >> 'The comic gifts of one of our best contemporary writers are not wasted in this memoir. A very English story told in a very English way.' -- Daily Telegraph >> 'Marvellous memoir ... a writer who has long been one of our most engrossingly inquiring minds, Frayn has never written with more searching brilliance than in this quest for his past.' -- --Sunday Times 'Our Choice'

'Heartfelt memoir.' -- The Times >> 'Frayn's beautifully written memoir of suburban family life is both funny and deeply moving.' --Guardian


Book Description


Shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards in 2010, My Father's Fortune, Michael Frayn's searching and moving memoir, sets out to discover his family's past.


About the Author


Michael Frayn was born in London in 1933 and began his career as a journalist on the
Guardian and the
Observer. His novels include
Towards the End of the Morning,

EAN: 9780571270590

Package Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.0 x 1.4 inches

Languages: English