Mother's Boy

One of the all-time great memoirsDaily Telegraph
Wonderful...candid, shrewd and moving William Boyd
Laugh-out-loud glorious and uproarious Simon Schama

Howard Jacobsons funny, revealing and tender memoir of his path to becoming a writer.

Howard Jacobson was forty when his first novel was published. In Mothers Boy, he traces the life that brought him there. Born into a working-class Jewish family in 1940s Manchester, he did not lack encouragement or subject matter. Jacobson takes us from childhood and studying at Cambridge, through landing in Sydney as a maverick young professor, and on to his first marriage and the birth of his son. Later, he begins new - and often surprising - ventures in places as disparate as London, Wolverhampton, Boscastle and Melbourne.

Infused with bittersweet memories of Jacobsons parents and friends, this is the story of a writers beginnings, and of learning to understand who you are before you can become the writer you were meant to be.

Hilariously brilliant David Baddiel

Howard Jacobson brilliantly transforms calamity into rip-roaring comedy Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday