Description

‘I am in awe of the woman who grew from the child in this book … The pure character necessary to grow through this dark entangled forest of childhood is the stuff of legends. Bravissima’ LEMN SISSAY, author of My Name is Why

Eight Weeks is a deeply moving and inspiring memoir that tells the remarkable life story of Baroness Young of Hornsey, from her childhood in foster care, to becoming one of the first Black women in the House of Lords.

Lola Young has been an actress, an academic, an activist and campaigner for social justice, and a crossbench peer. But from the age of eight weeks to eighteen years, she was moved between foster care placements and children’s homes in North London. It would take many decades before she was able to begin the search for answers to the long-standing questions that would help her make sense of her childhood.

In Eight Weeks, through her care records, fragments of memory, and her imagination where parts of her story are missing, Lola assembles the pieces of her past into a portrait of a childhood in a system that often made her feel invisible and unwanted. Alongside glimpses into her life as a peer, activist, and campaigner it tells the powerful story of her determination to defy the odds.

Eight Weeks is a spirited, eye-opening and beautifully written account of being a child in care and a Black child in a white family and is a vital part of contemporary Black British history.

‘A remarkable account of rejection, resilience and resolve’ MICHELLE GAYLE
‘Beautiful and harrowing, deeply unsettling and profoundly life-affirming’ JOHN AKOMFRAH
‘Superb, moving’ HELENA KENNEDY LT KC
‘An inspiring story from an inspirational storyteller’ GARY YOUNGE

Publisher Review

I love Eight Weeks … Baroness Lola Young reveals how a child is constantly wronged by a system which was supposed to help … In Eight Weeks Lola befriends her childhood self. She holds her by the hand as they enter the storm of a system raging around her. I am in awe of the woman who grew from the child in this book … The pure character necessary to grow through this dark entangled forest of childhood is the stuff of legends. Bravissima Lola * Lemn Sissay, author of My Name is Why * A remarkable account of rejection, resilience and resolve. Lola has unashamedly let us into the vulnerability that came with her surpassing expectations and perfectly portrays the essential human need to belong * Michelle Gayle * A remarkable book: at once beautiful and harrowing, deeply unsettling and profoundly life-affirming. It is, quite simply, the best memoir that I’ve read on 50s Britain * John Akomfrah * A superb, moving memoir of a fraught childhood forging a great human spirit. Inspirational! * Helena Kennedy LT KC * Lola Young takes us on a remarkable journey, both personal and political, that few have travelled but all can relate to. An inspiring story from an inspirational storyteller. * Gary Younge *