Description

‘One of the all-time great memoirs’ Daily Telegraph
‘Wonderful…candid, shrewd and moving’ William Boyd
‘Laugh-out-loud glorious and uproarious’ Simon Schama

Howard Jacobson’s funny, revealing and tender memoir of his path to becoming a writer.

Howard Jacobson was forty when his first novel was published. In Mother’s 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 Jacobson’s parents and friends, this is the story of a writer’s 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

Publisher Review

A wonderful memoir, written with great linguistic brio. Candid, shrewd and moving - a classic of its kind. -- William Boyd Howard Jacobson has always been hilariously brilliant at writing fictional versions of his life. He can, it turns out, also tell the real story with all that brilliance and hilarity, with the added gain for the reader of finding out what - and who - made him that writer. -- David Baddiel Side-splittingly funny and serious, too, Howard Jacobson has written one of the all-time great memoirs. -- Nicholas Lezard * Daily Telegraph * Mother's Boy is a synthesis of his life's work...as well as an original story... it is every bit as funny. -- Toby Lichtig * Times Literary Supplement * Laugh-out-loud glorious and uproarious of course - but don't let the self-ribbing fool you; this is deep and poignant. -- Simon Schama