Unreliable Memoirs

Unreliable Memoirs

‘Toys were scarce. A few crude lead soldiers were still produced so that children could go on poisoning themselves but otherwise there was almost nothing’.

From causing havoc on building sites to hitting small girls with a wet handkerchief, from inopportune reactions in the swimming pool to obsessive longing for one girl after another, Clive James’s outspoken and delightful memoir of growing up in post-war Australia has won a place in the hearts of readers the world over.

In a new introduction, James discusses his determination to reveal ‘the full repellent panoply of pre-pubescent accomplishments, from targeted flatulence to petty theft’. He did not expect the book to be a bestseller: ‘The most I had hoped for was to get away with it.’ Yet this unvarnished picture of a ‘selfish, noisy and maladroit’ boy spoke to readers. Always honest about his faults and ignorance (‘What sort of conflict was an Evelyn War?’), James scraped through school and university, but the story’s ending leaves him poised for new adventures in England. This Folio Society edition is illustrated with photographs from the author’s own collection, many published for the first time.