The Boy with the Topknot A Memoir of Love, Secrets and Lies in Wolverhampton

The Boy with the Topknot A Memoir of Love, Secrets and Lies in Wolverhampton Synopsis

A 2014 World Book Night selection.

The Boy with the Topknot: A Memoir of Love, Secrets and Lies in Wolverhampton is a hilarious and heart-rending reinvention of the modern British memoir. It's 1979, I'm three years old, and like all breakfast times during my youth it begins with Mum combing my hair, a ritual for which I have to sit down on the second-hand, floral-patterned settee, and lean forward, like I'm presenting myself for execution. For Sathnam Sanghera, growing up in Wolverhampton in the eighties was a confusing business. On the one hand, these were the heady days of George Michael mix-tapes, Dallas on TV and, if he was lucky, the occasional Bounty Bar. On the other, there was his wardrobe of tartan smocks, his 30p-an-hour job at the local sewing factory and the ongoing challenge of how to tie the perfect top-knot. And then there was his family, whose strange and often difficult behaviour he took for granted until, at the age of twenty-four, Sathnam made a discovery that changed everything he ever thought he knew about them. Equipped with breathtaking courage and a glorious sense of humour, he embarks on a journey into their extraordinary past - from his father's harsh life in rural Punjab to the steps of the Wolverhampton Tourist Office - trying to make sense of a life lived among secrets. Praise for The Boy with the Topknot : I absolutely loved it. Heartbreaking and wonderful. He writes beautifully . (Maggie O'Farrell). Could not be more enjoyable, engaging or moving . ( Observer ). Tragic, funny and disturbing. It will challenge you, and may even change you . (Carole Angier, Independent ). Sathnam Sanghera was born in 1976. He is an award-winning journalist who was previously chief feature writer at The Financial Times and now works for The Times . He lives in London. Published in hardback as If You Don't Know Me by Now .