Once in a House on Fire - Softcover

Ashworth, Andrea

3.95

2,225 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0330351923 ISBN 13: 9780330351928

Publisher: Picador, 1999

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

Andrea Ashworth's father died when she was five leaving her, her three-year-old sister and mother to fend for themselves. A succession of stepfathers, some violent and an itinerant life of poverty were her lot but reading was her escape route out of misery.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

Given her start in life, it is all the more remarkable that Andrea Ashworth should have turned out to be an Oxford graduate with such a compelling memoir under her belt. Her father died when she was five, her mother was left, poor and isolated in 70s, depressed Manchester to bring up Andrea and her younger sister singlehandedly. Along comes a physically abusive stepfather who sets about dragging the young family into the pits of despair, petty crime and sordid poverty. But Ashworth writes an enchanting story that blends social history (the 70s are rendered with an acute eye for detail) with poetic intensity. She turns a child's uncomprehending gaze on the domestic horrors of working- class life when it is dominated by a vicious man and drunken, self-pitying mother. We know, as we listen with Andrea, that her mother has decided to leave her man when she puts Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" on the turntable. Unfortunately, we know, too, that she was kidding herself when said man comes home and twirls her round the front room to the sound of Motown disco. We know, because Ashworth makes us re-live her childhood by dint of her astonishing gift for storytelling. --Lilian Pizzichini

Review:

‘This is a brilliant book. Brilliantly written, brilliantly thought, brilliantly remembered . . . Ashworth has written an extraordinary memoir; the only pity is that she had to live it to make it’ Scotsman

‘Enchanting and thrilling . . . As a chronicle of northern working-class life in the seventies and eighties . . . it would be hard to better this book. It is extremely moving . . . It is also at time surprisingly, and gratifyingly, very funny’ Tim Lott, The Times

‘Full of energy, wit and a child’s wide-open gaze . . . Andrea Ashworth escaped the fire to write a remarkable book’ Blake Morrison, Independent on Sunday

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.